Yuleride

Chapter 37 ~ Entering the Chamber

Haruun watched Hermione and Snape dig through the sand using their wands, Snape having released the lower part of his head wrapping so he could see without obstruction. It was slow going because the small grains had a tendency to want to roll back down. It was clear to see they were both excited and not thinking clearly. This was a rarity, but there it was. The boy went and retrieved two shovels from one of the bundles and set them down on the ground behind the pair. He pulled out his wand.

He had to think a moment. What was the magic word? Ah, yes.

”Cavo!” he said, swishing and flicking his wand at the shovels.

The shovels shuddered, then rose off the ground, floated around Hermione and Snape and started digging, lifting shovelfuls of sand and carrying them away a little distance and dumping them. Both Hermione and Snape stopped digging and turned to look at Haruun, who gave them a crooked smile and shrugged.

”You weren’t thinking,” the boy said.

Snape and Hermione looked at each other, and as if of one mind, quickly walked over to the bundles on the ground and took out several cups and plates, transfiguring them into shovels and setting them to work. They stood watching as they did the job for them.

Haruun rifled through the bundles until he found one of the cornucopias. He pulled out a pumpkin pastie. It was late to eat but he figured he deserved it. When Snape cut his eyes toward him and didn’t say anything, Haruun was absolutely sure he deserved it. He sat down next to the camel, which was folded compactly on the ground, tied to one of the torches and chewing its cud, staring at the shovels dully.

Hermione held her wand on the sand expectantly, the blue light that signified life glowing brightly. It seemed the stories were true. Something was alive down there, something awful, guarding the prize.

After about three hours, there was a clunk. The shovels had dug a very wide hole about 25 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. Snape, Haruun and Hermione shored up the walls with magic, so they wouldn’t collapse and bury them, adding a slope so they could walk up and down rather than have to drop in and out. They removed the spells from the shovels, which dropped heavily to the ground. Haruun gathered them up and left them by the side of the hole, then squatted on his heels looking down at the pair from the edge. He wasn’t there long.

”Haruun, bring the lanterns and a coil of rope,” Snape ordered as Hermione used a breeze spell to carefully remove the rest of the sand, revealing an iron floor with hieroglyphs inscribed in the metal. There was a diamond-shaped hole. Haruun brought the lanterns and Snape and Hermione each took one, studying the symbols. Hermione read the main glyph out loud.

”Cursed is he who defiles the house of Thoth. May he be set upon by the unfaithful and consumed by Aab-e-Hayaat - the Dancing Water.”

Hermione looked at Snape.

”That doesn’t sound very inviting,” she commented as the wizard produced the key that had almost cost him his life out of his pocket.

”What did you expect? A welcome mat from Thoth?” he sniped as he bent to set the key in place.

”Wait!” Hermione cried.

Snape straightened, looking irritated.

”I just want to check for magic. A lot of these curses are hot air, but occasionally—they work,” she said, casting her wand about carefully over the iron plate and surrounding area. Snape’s nostrils pulsated with impatience. They were so close now. After three minutes of careful casting at different magical levels, she detected nothing.

”Okay,” she said to Snape, who looked almost beside himself with aggravation, ”it’s clean—so far. You can open it.”

”Thank you,” Snape said curtly, once again bending and placing the key into the opening.

At first nothing happened, then the whole plate shuddered.

”Up we go!” Snape hissed, grabbing a startled Hermione’s wrist and racing with her back up the slope to the ground above. Good thing, too. A number of very sharp and nasty 5 foot metal spikes suddenly jutted up from the plate, accompanied by a sound very much like a multitude of swords being drawn from scabbards. If they had remained standing there, they would have been skewered.

”Apparently Thoth was into ‘shish kabob’ as well as immortal severed body parts,” Snape said softly as the spikes slowly retracted. Hermione stared at the plate, horrified. She could have been killed. Severus had saved her life with his quick reaction.

They watched as the iron plate began to pulsate and glow, first graying, then turning a dull crimson, then a brighter red as if it were red hot. It continued to lighten, a glow rising from the hole as it turned a brilliant white, all three adventurers covering their eyes against the brilliance before a roaring sound filled the air and a pillar of swirling golden light shot straight up into the night sky, illuminating the surrounding as if it were brightest day.

The light was viewable, and Hermione swore she could see shapes in the whirling funnel. Shapes that looked like people with flowing tails rather than legs and holes for eyes and mouth. They looked like ghosts. Not real ghosts but the kind that are put up for decoration for Halloween. Yet, these were much more frightening as she got a glimpse of them before the pillar was sucked back down into the hole, everything going dark.

Snape cautiously looked over the edge. The lanterns were still down there and gave enough light to see a large rectangular opening that had been the size of the iron plating. There’d be no more spikes, he hoped.

“Haruun, bring me the canary,” Snape said, still looking down into the hole and the yawning blackness of the chamber beneath.

Haruun hurriedly located the little covered cage that held a small, yellow canary. It chirped beneath the covering as the boy brought it to Snape, who cast a Bubblehead charm around himself. He looked at Hermione.

”You wait here,” he said softly.

Hermione didn’t say anything, but looked worried as Snape walked down the slope, picked up the coil of rope, strode to the edge of the opening and threw the rope into the air. It straightened and stiffened, one end of it in the sky, the other leading down into the darkness. Snape uncovered the birdcage, and carefully grasped part of his robe in one hand, then used that hand to grip the rope, using the fabric and his feet as a buffer as he slid down into the opening.

Silence followed.

”Severus?” Hermione called from the edge of the hole.

He didn’t answer. She quickly started walking down the slope, her want drawn.

”Hermione! You should wait!” Haruun called after her worriedly from the safety of higher ground. He was very much into self-preservation, and cursed holes weren’t on his to-do list.

Hermione walked to the edge of the opening and looked down into the darkness.

”Severus?” she called again. Suddenly, she screamed as something small, twittering and yellow flashed out of the hole. It was the canary. Suddenly, she could see Severus. He had lit torches that were ensconced in the walls and was standing in an empty stone chamber. He removed the Bubblehead spell. The air was safe, if a bit stale.

“I wanted to make sure there weren’t any severed limbs waiting to grab me,” he called up to her, then looked around the chamber. “Currently, I don’t see anything alive down here. It’s safe to come down.”

”All right, just let me remove my robes. They’ll get in the way,” Hermione said, “I’ll be right down.”

She walked up the slope, not noticing Haruun was no longer crouching by the edge of it. She worked at pulling the heavy robes over her head as she walked, when suddenly she hit something big and hard.

She wrestled her robes off her head and screamed as she was grabbed, both arms pinned to her sides so she couldn’t reach her wand. It was in the pocket of her robes anyway. Someone had her. Someone with very bad, hot breath.

”Let me go!” Hermione screamed before someone hit her with a Silencing spell.

”What?” Snape called up as he examined the room he was in. There was an opening that led down a corridor. When Hermione didn’t answer, he figured she was talking to Haruun and continued looking about.

A few feet away, Haruun stood, also held by a large, smelly stranger.

Out of the night walked Anwar Answany, round and smiling in the flickering torchlight. Hermione yelled at him, but she couldn’t be heard.

”Ah, Miss Granger. We meet again,” the Egyptian wizard purred. “I was quite disappointed that you developed a way to repel my tracking spells—“

“You get away from her, you son of a goat!” Haruun cried, struggling.

The man holding him cuffed him hard in the side of the head.

”Watch your mouth, street rat,” he growled.

Anwar looked at Haruun with a crooked smile, then walked over to the camel, who was completely disinterested in anything the humans were doing. Anwar picked up the cornucopia.

”Unfortunately, you didn’t cast the spell on your things,” he continued. “Your little guide was always accessing the cornucopia, and it was the one item I could be sure would accompany you throughout your travels.”

Hermione stared at him, cursing herself for not thinking to apply the spell to everything.

”It was a simple matter to use it to follow your and Mr. Snape’s progress.”

”Hermione! Come along!” Snape called up from the hole.

”Blasted women. Why do they always take so long?” he grumbled to himself. He wasn’t about to climb back up there.

”Of course, I sent a few spies to keep you occupied, but I knew the basic location of where you were every day. You’ve both been quite busy. It was when the key of Thoth was stolen that I figured out you were looking for the tomb, and the Elixir of Immortality. Very good work, and I thank you for it.”

Hermione glared at him. If looks could kill, Anwar would be buried by now. The bastard. He was planning on stealing their discovery.

”Now, if you will excuse me,” he said to the witch, then to his accomplices, “hold them. Do not let them go. Be prepared to kill them on my word. If their companion returns without me, kill them immediately.”

Both men nodded grimly.

Anwar walked down the slope to the edge of the opening and looked down at Snape, who was examining some hieroglyphs on the wall, before he called up, “For gods’ sakes, Hermione. Get down here now, witch!”

”Mr. Snape. I must insist you allow me to Accio your wand,” Anwar called down. “I have both Miss Granger and Haruun in a very compromising position, a position that will result in their immediate demise if you do not cooperate.”

Snape looked upward and could see Anwar’s face peering down at him. He had Hermione and Haruun? Damn it.

”What do you want, Mr. Answany?” the Potions master hissed.

”Only to protect the relics of Egypt,” he replied.

”No. If that were the case, you would be here with government officials, not threatening my companions with death,” Snape replied.

Anwar smiled.

”Perhaps there is more than a little personal interest involved, Mr. Snape, but I am an Egyptian and whatever is down there is more mine than yours. It is part of my heritage you are attempting to steal.”

”You care nothing for heritage!” Snape snarled furiously.

”I am not about to debate you, Mr. Snape. Allow me to Accio your wand, now.”

Snape stood there, unmoving.

Anwar tsked.

”So stubborn. Abu, show Mr. Snape we mean business,” he called up. Suddenly there was a tortured scream from Haruun.

”All right!” Snape hissed, holding his wand out loosely in his hand.

Anwar flicked his wand at it.

”Accio wand!” he said, and Snape’s wand flew upward into his outstretched hand. Anwar pocketed it, covering the extended tip with his vest.

”Now, I am coming down, Mr. Snape. If you don’t want anything to happen to your companions, I suggest you be cooperative as we take the last leg of your journey together. Back away from the rope.”

Snape backed away, but the look in his eyes was murderous. He wouldn’t need a wand to kill this thieving bastard. His bare hands would do. Anwar descended the rope quickly, quite agile for a large man. His feet touched ground and he smiled at the scowling Snape. He was terrible to behold, his anger making his features even more frightening.

“You do look like the devil, but that is not a problem for me. I would brave hell itself for Thoth’s treasures. No one has been able to locate this chamber, and many have tried. I will be a wealthier man, thanks to you, Mr. Snape.”

“And what do you intend to do to us, Mr. Answany, once you’ve stolen our discovery?” Snape asked him, knowing the answer.

But it was the wrong answer.

”Nothing, Mr. Snape. You are new to the business of discovery, so don’t know the rules. Killing talented explorers is not par for the course. You let them live, so they can find other discoveries, Mr. Snape. Murder is only used to make them more amicable to handing over their finds. Both Miss Granger and the street rat are expendable as far as I am concerned. You, on the other hand are someone I’d like to see continue in the field. No doubt next time you’ll be better prepared for the possibility of theft. And I enjoy a challenge. Now, enough talk. Let’s see what this chamber holds. After you, Mr. Snape.”

His wand drawn, Anwar gestured with it toward the open door. Snape approached it, and a torch ignited itself inside the corridor, the walls covered with hieroglyphs. He turned back to Anwar.

”I need my wand to detect magic,” he stated flatly.

”I am willing to check for you, Mr. Snape. I am here to serve,” Anwar purred walking up to the opening, unconcerned that Snape might attack him.

“You’re here to steal,” Snape spat back at him impotently.

”That too,” Anwar said as he peered into the corridor. “Just so you know, Mr. Snape, my men have orders to kill your companions should you return without me. So let’s keep this civil.”

Snape glared at Anwar’s back as he checked the lit corridor for magic. He had to do something, but what?

For now, he’d just have to cooperate.

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Abu and his companion Abdul stood holding their captives for a while. Then Abu said, “Let’s seat them by the camel and stand guard over them.”

Abdul grunted and dragged Hermione over to the camel and the torch and flung her down into the sand roughly. Her robes and concealed wand were left where she dropped them. The Silencing spell had worn off and she could speak again.

”I need my robes,” she said to Abdul, who snarled down at her.

”And the wand inside it? No tricks, you abomination. I know what a wand is and what a witch is. You’ll stay put,” he growled at her.

Abu slung Haruun down next to her. He was still bent in pain from when the man grabbed his goods and squeezed them hard. That was how he had made the boy scream. Hermione protectively wrapped her arm around his shoulder, pulling Haruun against her.

”It’ll be all right, Haruun,” she said to him softly as the boy glared at both men staring down at them.

”No talking,” Abdul said, kicking a bit of sand at Hermione.

The two men sat down across from them, silently, their eyes flicking over Hermione in a way she didn’t like.

Gods, how were they going to get out of this?

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A/N: Thanks for reading.