Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates

Tim Powers

Tho much is taken, much abides; and tho
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are Alfred, Lord Tennyson

From between two trees at the crest of the hill a very old man watched, with a nostalgic longing he thought hed lost all capacity for, as the last group of picnickers packed up their baskets, mounted their horses, and rode away souththey moved a little hastily, for it was a good six miles back to London, and the red sun was already silhouetting the branches of the trees along the River Brent, two miles to the west.

When theyd gone the old man turned around to watch the suns slow descent. The Boat of Millions of Years, he thought; the boat of the dying sungod Ra, tacking down the western sky to the source of the dark river that runs through the underworld from west to east, through the twelve hours of the night, at the far eastern end of which the boat will tomorrow reappear, bearing a once again youthful, newly reignited sun.

Or, he thought bitterly, removed from us by a distance the universe shouldnt even be able to encompass, its a vast motionless globe of burning gas, around which this little ball of a planet rolls like a pellet of dung propelled by a kephera beetle.

Take your pick, he told himself as he started slowly down the hill But be willing to die for your choice.

He had to walk carefully, for his Japanese clogs were awkward on the uneven dirt and grass.

Fires were already lit among the tents and wagons, and a weaving of wild odors whirled up to him on the cool evening breeze: a sharp, earthy reek from the tethered donkeys, wood smoke, and the aroma of roasting hedgehog, a dish his people particularly relished. Faintly, too, he thought he caught a whiff of stale breath from the crate that had arrived that afternoona musty fetor, as of perverse spices meant to elicit aversion rather than appetite, almost shockingly incongruous when carried on the clean breezes of Hampstead Heath. As he approached the cluster of tents he was met by a couple of the camp dogs; as always, they backed away from him when they recognized him, and one turned around and loped purposefully to the nearest tent; the other, with evident reluctance, escorted Amenophis Fikee into the camp.

Responding to the dogs summons, a dark man in a striped corduroy coat stepped out of the tent and strode across the grass toward Fikee. Like the dogs, he halted well short of the old man. Good evening, rya, he said. Will you eat some dinner? Theyve got a hotchewitchi on the fire, smells very kushto.

As kushto as hotchewitchi ever does smell, I suppose, Fikee muttered absently. But no, thank you. You all help yourselves.

Not I, ryamy Bessie always loved cooked hotchewitchi; so since she mullered I dont eat it anymore.

Fikee nodded, though he obviously hadnt been listening. Very well, Richard. He paused as though hoping for an interruption, but none came. When the sun is all the way down, have some of the chals carry that crate down the bank to the tent of Doctor Romany.

The gypsy scratched his oiled moustache and shifted doubtfully. The crate that the sailor chal brought today?

Which crate did you think I meant, Richard? Yes, that one.

The chals dont like it, rya. They say theres something in it mullo dusta beshes, dead many years.

Amenophis Fikee frowned and pulled his cloak closer about himself. He had left the last rays of sunlight behind him at the top of the hill, and among these shadows his craggy face seemed to possess no more vitality than a stone or tree trunk. At last he spoke: Well, whats in it has seen dusta beshes, certainlymany many years. He gave the timorous gypsy a smile that was like a section of hillside falling away to expose old white stone. But its not mullo, Im I hope. Not quite mullo.

This did nothing to reassure the gypsy, who opened his mouth to voice another respectful objection; but Fikee had turned away and was stalking through the clearing toward the riverbank, his cloak flapping behind him in the wind like the wing-case of some gigantic insect.

The gypsy sighed and slouched away toward one of the tents, practicing a limp that would, he hoped, earn him a dispensation from actually having to help carry the dreadful crate.

Fikee slowly picked his way along the darkening riverbank toward Doctor Romanys tent. Except for the hoarse sighing of the breeze the evening was oddly silent. The gypsies seemed to realize that something momentous was in the wind tonight, and were slinking about as silently as their dogs, and even the lizards had stopped hopping and splashing among the riverside reeds.

The tent stood in a clearing, at the focus of enough lines and riggingslung from every nearby treefor a good-sized ship. The angling ropes, assisted by a dozen upright poles, supported the flapping, bulging, many-layered randomness of Romanys tent. It looked, thought Fikee, like some huge nun in a particularly cold-weather habit, crouched beside the river in obscure devotion.

Ducking under a couple of ropes, he made his way to the entrance and lifted aside the curtain, and stepped through into the central room, blinking in the brightness that the dozen lamps cast on the draped carpets which formed the walls, floor and ceiling.

Doctor Romany stood up from a table, and Fikee felt a wave of hopeless envy. Why, Fikee asked venomously, hadnt it been Romanelli who picked that short straw in Cairo last September? Fikee pulled off his drab cloak and hat and flung them in a corner. His bald head gleamed like imperfectly polished ivory in the lamplight.

Romany crossed the room, bobbing grotesquely on his high, spring-soled shoes, and gripped him by the hand. Its a great thing weyouattempt tonight, he said in a deep muted voice. I only wish I could be here with you in person.

Fikee shrugged, a little impatiently. We are both servants. My post is England, yours is Turkey. I completely understand why it is that you can be present tonight onlyhe waved vaguelyin replica.

Needless to say, Romany intoned, his voice becoming deeper as though trying to wring an echo out of the surrounding carpets, if it happens that you die tonight, rest assured you will be embalmed and entombed with all the proper ceremonies and prayers.

If I fail, Fikee answered, there wont be anybody to pray to.

I didnt say fail. It could be that you will succeed in opening the gates, but die in accomplishing it, the unruffled Romany pointed out. In such a case youd want the proper actions taken.

Very well, said Fikee with a weary nod. Good, he added.

There was a sound of shuffling feet from the entry, and then an anxious voice. Rya? Where would you like the crate? Hurry, I think spirits are coming out of the river to see whats in it!

Not at all unlikely, muttered Doctor Romany as Fikee instructed the gypsies to carry the thing inside and set it down on the floor. This they hastily did, making their exit as quickly as respectful deportment would permit.

The two very old men stared at the crate in silence for a time, then Fikee stirred and spoke. Ive instructed my gypsies that in my absence, they are to regard you as their chief.

Romany nodded, then bent over the crate and began wrenching the top boards away. After tossing aside some handfuls of crumpled paper he carefully lifted out a little wooden box tied up with string. He set it on the table. Turning back to the crate, he knocked away the rest of the loosened boards and, grunting with effort, lifted out a paper-wrapped package which he laid on the floor. It was roughly square, three feet on each side and six inches thick.

He looked up and said, The Book, unnecessarily, for Amenophis Fikee knew what it was.