7. Out of Breath

Jaco rummaged through the objects. Every so often, he’d find something valuable and toss it into his bag. He pushed aside anything that didn’t shine or wasn’t made of gold, until he found a small stone statue all the way at the back. A little pyramid, no larger than his head.

He looked at Halek.

“Grab the dagger and try to make a hole in the wooden door.”

Gidi had been nervously pacing around the room, but now came to stand next to him.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” she whispered. “Just a few hours ago he wanted to eat us.”

“When I first found you, dear Gidi, you would bite my front paw and tail over and over. You kept that up for four days straight. You were scared and thought you had to seem scary to survive. But I’m old, older than you think. I can see right through that.”

“Oh, okay then. If you say so, old grandpa. Why are all these things here anyway?”

“This is the last room before the burial chamber. This is where Osiris was embalmed and wrapped in linen cloths like a mummy. Then they moved him to his final resting place. He’s probably still there, along with our treasure: the second part of the legend that hopefully leads to Isis.”

Jaco smashed a small pot against the floor until it shattered. He grabbed a long, thin shard and pressed it into the top of the pyramid, creating a round opening. He smiled, satisfied.

“Why destroy that beautiful statue?”

“You’ll see soon enough. Halek, how’s it going?”

It was as if all the strength had drained from the powerful fox. Gidi understood what Jaco meant. Halek had puffed himself up this whole time, trying to seem scary because he was scared of his “friends” himself. Now that someone had poked a hole in him, however, now that he felt Jaco wasn’t going to hurt him, he deflated.

He stabbed the dagger into the door with all his might. Two planks in the middle snapped in half. He growled and stabbed the same hole three more times, until he could completely pull out the planks.

The hole was big enough to see through, but never to walk through.

Gidi didn’t see anything special on the other side. Torches on the walls lit up a gray hallway that seemed to dead-end both ways.

Jaco also stuck his head through the hole.

“That’ll do. Gidi, grab some pots and smash them as hard as you can.”

She did as instructed. Halek quickly covered his ears. Jaco coughed and placed the pyramid statue against his mouth, with the opening on top, like a megaphone.

“Who has broken my scale?”

His loud voice easily rose above the noise of the pots, and his low rumble echoed long after. Even Gidi startled.

“Anubis will find you!”

He spoke even louder, with even more threat and divine power in his voice. Gidi and Halek both played the pots and pans like ghostly musicians.

“And his vengeance will be sweet! Flee now while you still can!”

They stopped making noise.

Sounds of footsteps and shouting grew, like a siren approaching. A gust of wind blasted down the hall, extinguishing the flames.

“Ah, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Alright, we’ll make do. Quick, hand me the rope!”

In the darkness, they could only see each other’s eyes. Jaco stuck out his paw blindly. A moment later he felt something prick him.

“Rope. How hard is it to pick the right object!? That long, stringy thing that had us tied up for hours!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean, I just can’t find it in the dark.”

“Okay, new plan. Gidi, find a safe spot. Halek, get on the other side of the door. Press yourself against the wall and stick your paw out as far as you can.”

Just to be safe, Jaco closed his shiny eyes so no one could see him anymore.

As Halek moved past, Gidi definitely felt rope brushing her paws. He’s had it this whole time, she thought, but saying anything now would give them away.

The smoky fumes in the hallway tingled. The footsteps sounded extremely close now. The panting of nine foxes filled the hall until it was drowned out by commands from their new not-a-leader.

“There. A door, an exit!”

They heard the stack of rocks blocking the entrance roll away. The door opened. All the Shadowshifters ran through the opening at once; they all tripped over the outstretched paws of Jaco and Halek. Like dominoes, they fell one after another, building a pile of foxes.

Jaco immediately left the room. He grabbed a torch, relit it against the wall, and shone it on the group.

Next to the pile, Halek tied a tight double knot in the rope. All the foxes were bound tightly together, like a package to be delivered.

“Ah, yes, good idea. Wouldn’t have thought of that. I only meant to trip them up.”

“I know, Jaco. I know you did,” said Halek.

Gidi sauntered past the bound stack, whistling as she inspected the hall. Jaco grabbed his bag, his dagger, and followed her. Halek spat on his former friends. He barricaded the wooden door with heavy rocks, then swaggered down the new passage as well.

“Is it true?” Jaco stopped Halek, speaking softly. “That these were the last fennecs? That by doing this you’ve doomed your own kind to–”

“It’s true.”

Halek shoved Jaco aside with his shoulder and strode on. From a distance, it looked like a dead end, but upon reaching it a side passage appeared.

Gidi’s small body grew exhausted. “Are we almost there?”

“That depends.”

“On what?” Halek had grabbed his own torch, a fine help in the oppressive darkness.

“How quickly we make it through this maze.”

They walked swiftly, as if Anubis really was chasing them. Gidi panted, feeling her legs less and less, the wound on her paw still irritated.

“Stop, stop, I need to rest for a minute.”

Halek huffed in annoyance, like a reflex, but did stop walking. “Agreed. We can’t just blindly enter a maze and expect to stumble on the exit. Jaco, I’m sure you know some trick?”

“I know one, but it doesn’t guarantee we find the exit quickly. Only that we will find it eventually.”

“Fine. Better than nothing.”

“That’s because you don’t understand how mazes like this work. Anyone who enters eventually finds the exit. By chance, by luck, if they just keep trying long enough. To prevent that from happening, they built in an extra mechanism.”

“Please, not another riddle. I’ve had my fill for last the next thousand years.”

“No, something much worse. The Followers of Ra had great knowledge of particles and gases. There’s a good chance that toxic gas slowly fills the maze, and if you breathe too much of it …”

“We get the idea.”

I don’t get it at all, thought Gidi. But it sounds too serious to joke about. Her breathing had calmed and she gingerly tried standing on her own legs again.

Halek looked at Jaco doubtfully.

“We could split up. If someone finds the exit, bang loudly on the wall. The others will follow the sound.”

“That’s like me standing at the bottom of the ocean, yanking a piece of coral, and expecting you to hear exactly where I am. Besides, Gidi definitely can’t go alone.”

Normally Gidi would have objected to this. Now she sat drained on the floor, feeling lightheaded, as the ground swayed.

“You made your point. Then we have to run fast. How do we find the exit?”

“Place your paw against the left wall. No matter what, follow the left wall and don’t let go. Eventually we’ll find the exit.”

Jaco lifted Gidi onto his back again. And they ran. Their stomachs growled and their tongues hung out, but hall after hall they continued undaunted.

Objects lay scattered around. A shawl, coins, a pile of flint, skeletons of fish and even one from an osprey. They weren’t sure if the items belonged to the pyramid builders or were remnants of less fortunate adventurers.

After an hour, running turned to jogging, which later turned to walking, until after many hours it became strolling. Their throats constricted more and more. Gidi felt like chunks of rock sat in her mouth, while Halek’s breathing sounded like snoring.

They had passed thousands of halls, when they finally found a circular room.

A round pool of water rippled in the center, ringed by lush soil and ferns. A marble pillar held up a glass orb. The torchlight shone precisely on the orb, reflecting and refracting it hundreds of times, as if the water was filled with millions of mirrors. As if another pearl pyramid sat in the water.

Among the ferns lay stones covered in green moss. Combined with the glittering lights, it created a beautiful scene, certainly after hours of aimless wandering.

“Finally,” Halek coughed and choked with each word. “Sit and rest.”

He headed for the first stone. His stomach grumbled; Gidi’s responded similarly. He stretched his paws to—

“Don’t touch it!” Jaco yelled.