Area 51: Excalibur-6 Read Free

language the Pharaoh had never heard.
    "Do you understand the words?" he asked Asim, his voice a whisper as if the image could hear.

    10

    "It is the language of the Gods, my lord. I was taught as much of the language as has been passed down and remembered among the high priests."
    Khufu waited impatiently for the priest to translate.
    "It was hoped the Great Pyramid would bring more of the Gods," Asim finally said, his head cocked to one side, his single eye closed as he listened closely and tried to understand. "That was the design." Asim's thin tongue snaked around his lips as he listened further. "It has not worked that way. Instead an enemy comes." Asim's good arm slowly raised until it pointed upward. "From the sky above."
    Khufu looked at the ceiling of the chamber. He could see the sky displayed. It was clear, not a cloud or bird visible.
    "What kind of enemy?" Khufu asked, but Asim was again listening and didn't respond right away.
    "The Ancient Enemy of the Gods," Asim finally said. "The killer of all life. The enemy with the patience of"— Asim shook his head—"I know not the word, but something like the patience of a stone, infinite. And the specific word for the enemy, the closest I can come to is when the locusts gather—a Swarm."
    Khufu had seen swarms of locusts so thick they made day into night passing overhead. When they alighted in a field, they stripped it bare within minutes.
    He tried to imagine a Swarm that could be a threat to the Gods but could not conceive of it. The vision continued speaking, the sound almost like that of a bird, Khufu thought.
    'The capstone—what it calls the Master Guardian—will stop the Ancient Enemy,"
    Asim finally said as the vision ceased speaking. "Excalibur controls the power to the Guardian. While the sword is inside the sheath the Master Guardian cannot work. You have freed it and thus the Master Guardian has power. The Master Guardian can now take action against the Ancient Enemy."

    11

    Khufu turned to the priest. "How will this Master Guardian do this? What Ancient Enemy?"
    Asim was looking up. He pointed at the display on the roof of the cavern that showed the sky above the pyramid. "That enemy, my lord."
    Khufu looked up and blinked. There was a dark spot high in the sky, rapidly growing larger. As it descended it began to take shape and Khufu felt his stomach knot and twist with fear. It was a large black flying spider—that was the only thing he could think. Eight legs, spread wide around a central, round body. And large—how big he had no idea, but its shadow was now covering the top of the pyramid.
    "How will the Guardian fight this?" Khufu whispered.
    "You have given it power by removing Excalibur from the sheath," Asim repeated.
    "Watch the power of the Gods, my lord."
    Khufu wanted to strangle the priest. He could not tear his eyes from the rapidly approaching monster. Suddenly a golden orb of power streaked upward from the Master Guardian toward the object and hit it. The spider jerked sideways. Khufu kept his eyes on it and a second golden orb raced into the sky and struck the enemy. Bright red flames burst out of the side of the flying spider and it jerked once more, now going upward, trying to escape.
    A third golden orb hit it and enveloped the entire object. It was still going higher and higher, edging toward the west. Khufu staggered back as there was a blinding explosion. When he looked up, the sky was clear.
    The golden glow inside the chamber decreased and Khufu almost collapsed, feeling drained. The Pharaoh started as the image began speaking again.
    "We are safe for now," Asim translated. "But"—he paused as he translated, eye closed—"it is not safe."
    "What isn't safe?" Khufu demanded.

    12

    "The Great Pyramid. The Master Guardian. The pyramid did not work as intended.
    It summoned the Ancient Enemy and not the Gods of old. If the Ancient Enemy came once, it can come again. What drew it here must be destroyed."
    The figure chimed on