The Cult of Osiris

‘Nothing like ’em up there,’ said Eddie, looking back past the pillars. ‘Yeah, I think we’re going to get wet again.’

‘But what’s it going to do?’ Nina asked. ‘Turn the place into a giant waterslide of death?’

‘Don’t give them ideas,’ said Macy, with a nervous glance at the watching gods.

‘This is the only way down,’ said Eddie, ‘so we’ll find out sooner or later. Unless you want to turn round - ah, who am I kidding? I shouldn’t even bother asking.’

‘It would be a waste to give up after getting this far,’ Nina pointed out with a smile. ‘Besides, the first trap was broken, and we got through the second one without too much trouble.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ he snorted, holding up his reddened hand, ‘wading through a lake of fire was a doddle!’

‘Okay, a little trouble. But we’ve been through worse. So long as we keep our heads, we’ll be fine.’

Macy raised a finger. ‘You remember that the final trap was called the Cutter-off of Heads, right?’

‘Then we’ll duck!’ She shone her flashlight down the slope. The passage continued in a straight line for some distance. ‘We’ll just be really careful and take things slow, okay?’

Eddie put a hand on her damp shoulder. ‘Okay, squishy. But I’m definitely going first, okay?’

‘Lead on, squashy,’ she replied, clapping a hand to his butt.

‘Get a room,’ Macy muttered. ‘Or get a tomb! Ha!’ Nina and Eddie both groaned. ‘What, he’s the only one allowed to make jokes?’

‘That’s ’cause all mine are good,’ said Eddie as he started down the slope.

Nina followed. ‘That’s a matter of opinion, honey.’

‘Tchah.’ His expression became more serious as he went on, alternating his torch beam between the floor and the roof. Something caught his eye, and he stopped. ‘Ay up,’ he said, indicating part of the ceiling. ‘The gaps between the blocks are getting bigger.’

Nina ran a fingertip along the joint. Fine dust trickled out. ‘The mortar’s crumbled.’

Macy bit her lip. ‘Just what you want when you’ve got giant stone blocks right above you, huh?’

‘Definitely take it slow,’ Nina suggested as Eddie set off again.

He nodded, noticing that the apparent shoddy workmanship continued along the ceiling - and also the floor. ‘Whatever this Lady of Rainstorms business is,’ he said, ‘I think she’s about to piss down on us any sec—’

The paving slab beneath his foot dropped slightly.

Everyone froze. From behind the walls came a faint clicking, a domino effect working upwards to knock out a final trigger . . .

A hollow clonk, wood being hit with metal - then an unmistakable rushing noise.

Water.

‘Bollocks,’ Eddie just had time to say before streams gushed from the cracks in the ceiling.

The downpour emerged from about a thirty-foot stretch of the roof, growing in strength - but not nearly enough to sweep anybody away down the slope. ‘I don’t get it,’ Nina said. ‘This couldn’t hurt anyone.’

‘This isn’t the trap,’ Eddie said with alarm. He pointed down the passage. ‘That’s the trap!’

She saw the cracks in the floor widening rapidly as the water rushed over them. ‘Oh, crap. Forget taking things slow - run!’

The substance binding the blocks together wasn’t mortar or cement. It was a mixture of sand and finely crushed limestone, just barely strong enough to hold everything in place . . . and now being rapidly eaten away as the limestone dissolved and the sand was washed out by the flowing water. The slabs shifted, clonking against each other as the trio raced over them, sinking—

And falling.

With the fragile binding disappearing, the floor did the same. Slabs dropped away into a deep pit below.

And as each slab plunged, the remainder became even weaker.

Eddie realised the gutters were staying intact, but they were too narrow to traverse - especially at a run. ‘Get ahead of me!’ he yelled. He was the heaviest of the group - if he went through the floor, they all would.

‘I can’t!’ Nina shouted from behind. ‘Just go, go!’

With a colossal boom, the entire upper end of the sabotaged floor collapsed into the pit. The flood turned into a waterfall, dropping after it, but the damage had already been done. The remaining stones tumbled one after the other into the void, a ripple gaining rapidly on the running figures.

‘There!’ Eddie shouted. The water sweeping down the slope had revealed the last line of weakened blocks - and beyond them, the floor was reassuringly solid. ‘Just a few more yards, come on!’

He dived as the blocks under him shifted, landing hard just past the corroding section. Nina also made a flying leap, barely staying on her feet as she bounded over her husband.

Behind her, Macy started to jump—

The last slabs fell away under her.

She screamed - then the scream was knocked out of her as she fell short and slammed against the newly exposed edge of the pit.

Her torch rolled down the passage as she clawed at the wet floor, unable to find a foothold on the sheer wall. Her elbows slipped over the brink, wrists—

Eddie grabbed her hand just as she lost her grip. ‘Nina!’ he gasped as Macy’s weight crushed his knuckles against the stone edge. ‘Get her other hand!’

Nina scrambled back up the slope, seeing Macy flailing below. She reached out for her other hand. ‘Macy! Here!’

The young woman looked up at her, terrified. ‘Please don’t let me fall!’

‘You’re not gonna fall,’ Nina promised. Their fingers touched - then slipped apart.

Eddie was losing his hold. ‘Nina, come on . . .’ he begged.

Nina dropped to her knees, leaned out over the abyss - and lunged.

This time, she caught Macy’s wrist. Straining, almost overbalancing, she hauled her up - taking just enough pressure off Eddie for him to bring round his other arm. ‘Got her!’ he barked. ‘Pull!’

Leaning back, Nina pulled with all her strength. Eddie forced himself upright and dragged her up. She cleared the edge, and all three fell over, Macy landing on top of Eddie.

Nina sat up. ‘You okay?’ she asked Macy, who nodded. ‘Good. Now get off my husband.’

Macy’s chest was on Eddie’s face. ‘I’m fine with it,’ he joked, muffled, before helping her off him.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered, shaking.

A low, crackling rumble made them all look up. ‘Don’t thank us yet,’ said Nina. She aimed her flashlight at the ceiling, and saw water leaking from more cracks above them. ‘Come on!’

They jumped up and ran down the slope—

An entire section of ceiling smashed to the floor where they had just been - and thousands of gallons of water followed, the remaining contents of the pool above bursting out. The deluge exploded down the passage after them.

No way to outrun it—

Macy was scooped off her feet as the churning maelstrom caught her, crashing against Nina and Eddie as they too were swept down the passage. They bounced painfully off the walls and floor, pieces of shattered stone pummelling them.

And there was a new sound audible even over the frothing thunder - a rhythmic pounding, growing louder . . .

Macy’s flashlight had been caught by the wave’s leading edge, a glowing point spinning ahead of them. Eddie saw movement, something rising up past another set of pillars - then the light vanished, crushed flat as the object slammed down with a monstrous boom. ‘Shit!’ he yelled as they were carried inexorably towards it. ‘Grab on to me!’

Nina clutched his arm, Macy a leg as he jammed his other heel into a gutter. The force of the torrent was too great for him to stop them, but he could slow them just enough to pass through the pillars while the crusher was moving upwards.

If his brief glimpse had been enough for him to judge its timing . . .