Up front, the thick-necked driver from earlier in the day glared at Stone in the rearview mirror. His face was a swollen, bloody mess.
“What happened to him?” Stone asked quietly.
“Set upon by robbers as he was walking through Place du Châtelet. Can you imagine how many men it must have taken to do that to him?”
“No, I can’t.” Stone’s head was buzzing. Was anyone what they seemed?
“I need to deliver this to my superior and then we will deliver you to the train station.”
Stone nodded, too weary and confused to speak. Only a few more months to go and then I’m free.
They pulled up in front of an imposing structure with Greek style columns and a high dome. A man cloaked in shadow waited at the bottom of the steps. Lemon Face hurried over, exchanged a few words, handed the pouch to the man.
“What is this place?” Stone asked.
“The Pantheon,” the driver said. “The brass have a meeting room down below it, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
Stone remembered what Rose had said.
“They sit up there in their secret headquarters underneath the Pantheon, pulling strings, manipulating people.”
Stone suddenly felt untethered from reality, like he was floating. None of this was happening. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe. It was he who had been working for the Illuminati all along.
At the station, he bought his ticket and boarded the train in a daze. They soon departed and while the other passengers tried to sleep, he stared out the window until the lights of Paris faded away. He felt something in his pocket and remembered the book Manon had given him.
It was titled The Path to Inner Peace by Jetsun. He opened to the first chapter and began to read.
“High in the mountains of Tibet lies a monastery no Western man has ever seen…”
27 The God Rises
Inside the pyramid stood a marble throne. Upon it sat a man with the head of a crocodile. The crocodile god Sobek! He wore a feathered headdress and held a scepter in his right hand. His left hand, which traditionally held an ankh, was empty.
The ushabti was burning like a tiny sun. It seemed to pull Stone toward the statue. He trusted his gut and placed the figurine in Sobek’s empty hand.
The effect was immediate. Green light shot out from the ushabti and spread across the surface of the statue. Cracks formed in the surface and the rock began to crumble. Stone caught a glimpse of olive green flesh.
Outside, the water roiled and the cavern shook. The water line dropped precipitously. Whirlpools formed all around. Up from the lake rose temples, statues, and obelisks joined by bridges and ornate pathways.
“Sobekopolis,” Stone said.
And then Sobek stood. The crocodile god shook of the remnants of his marble prison. He turned a questioning eye at the man and woman standing inside his pyramid.
“We were just returning your ushabti.” Stone pointed at the carved figure. Sobek looked down at it. His crocodilian features betrayed no emotion.
“An evil queen has sent her warriors into your home!” Trinity pointed down the walkway where a line of Anubis warriors approached.
Sobek hissed, took a step toward them.
“You can read Ancient Egyptian, can’t you?” Trinity said.
“A bit.”
Trinity shoved the golden tablet into his hands. “Read the last line — the bit Ratliff couldn’t manage.”
“What makes you think I can do it where he couldn’t?” Stone asked.
“Unlike him, you are not a coward.”
Sobek took another step in their direction, and they backed out of the pyramid.
Stone looked down at the text, fixed his mind, and read the line loudly and forcefully.
“Sobek, by your name I bind you to my will.”
Sobek froze in his tracks, locked eyes with Stone. The force of his presence was tremendous, so great that an ordinary person would crumble under its weight. Stone had the benefit of years of learning mental discipline at the feet of some of the greatest masters in the world. Still, it was a struggle to concentrate. He focused on the memory of the Night Queen standing atop her bloody pyramid, and tried to send the image into Sobek’s mind.
She has desecrated your city, Stone thought. Her minions invade this sacred space.
Sobek hissed, clacked his jaws, and strode out onto the walkway. The Anubis warriors froze at the sight of him.
The crocodile god struck the ground with the butt of his scepter. It made a sound like a deep bass note, and a wave of energy passed through Stone and Trinity. He saw movement all around him. Crocodilian warriors like the mummy they had seen above emerged from every building. Sobek hissed and the sound echoed throughout the chamber.
His crocodile army charged.
The Anubis warriors turned to flee but found themselves surrounded by the soldiers of Sobek. The fight was short and brutal as the crocodilians made quick work of their outnumbered enemies.
Sobek hissed again and pointed with his scepter toward the passageway from which the Anubis warriors had emerged. His army surged forward, eager to cleanse the temple of the Night Queen’s scourge.
Sobek turned an eye on Stone and Trinity. Stone clutched the tablet, ready to issue the command again. But the crocodile god only stared for a second, then strode away, following his army.
“We won’t be leaving by that tunnel any time soon,” Stone said when he could breathe again. Sobek’s army was bottlenecked at the entrance to the passageway as they all fought to make their way up to the Night Queen’s temple.
“How about there?” Trinity pointed to another passageway on the opposite side of the cavern.
“Can’t hurt to try.”
They jogged through the now empty city and made their way up a winding corridor. Soon, they heard the sounds of battle up ahead and emerged on the floor of Yineput’s temple.
Sobek’s army was engaged in a pitched battle with the invaders. The Anubis warriors fought with demonic ferocity, but they had only swords, spears, and light armor. The crocodilians had weapons of their own, but they had the natural gifts of a hide as tough as any armor, mighty jaws lined with razor sharp teeth, and powerful tails that could break bones.
An Anubis warrior spotted Stone and Trinity hiding in the shadows. It let out a howl like an angry coyote, and made a run for them. It had advanced only a few paces when a Sobek warrior charged in from the side. It lashed out with its tail and struck the Anubis warrior in the shins. The Night Queen’s minion fell flat on its face. Before it could rise, the Crocodilian’s jaws clamped down on its head. The crocodilian whipped its head back and forth until the Anubis warrior’s jackal head tore free from its body. He threw the head aside and charged back into the fray.
Yineput stood atop her pyramid, urging her minions on. A black cloud swirled above her head. She pointed, and a tendril of darkness shot out like a tentacle, grabbed a crocodilian around the waist, and proceeded to squeeze the life out of it.
“Any sign of the others?” Stone said.
“I don’t see them.” Trinity looked up at Stone. “How are we going to get out of here?”
“There’s a way out over there.” Stone pointed to a nearby passageway. “We need a distraction.”
He got his wish as Sobek entered the temple. He stood a head above the others. The sun disc on his headdress shone brightly, filling the cavern with its radiant glow. The Anubis warriors gave way before him as he made his inexorable march to the pyramid.
Yineput cried out, tried to rally her troops, but the tide had turned against her minions. Stone could practically sense her desperation as she hurled spears of darkness at the Crocodile god. But all of her missiles evaporated in the glow of Sobek’s sun disc.