Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly [139]
‘It was the right one,’ Pooh Bear said, clapping a hand onto Stretch’s shoulder. ‘You are a good man, Israeli . . . I mean, Stretch. I would be honoured to call you my friend.’
‘Thank you,’ Stretch said with a smile.’Thank you, friend.’’
When all the back-slapping was over, West was eager to understand how Lily had survived.
‘I went willingly,’ she said simply.
‘I don’t get it,’ West said.
Lily grinned, obviously proud of herself. ‘It was the inscription cut into the wall of the volcano chamber where I was born. You yourself were studying it one day. It said:
‘Enter The Embrace Of Anubis willingly, and you shall live beyond the coming of Ra.
Enter against your will, and your people shall rule for but one eon, but you shall live no more.
Enter not at all, and the world shall be no more.
‘Like the Egyptians, we thought it was simply a reference to the god Horus, accepting death and being rewarded for that with some kind of afterlife. But that was wrong. It was meant to apply to me and Alexander—to the Oracles. It’s not about accepting death willingly. It’s about entering the cavity, the embrace of Anubis, willingly.
‘If I entered it of my own accord, I would survive. If I went unwillingly, I’d die. But if I didn’t go at all, and the ritual was not performed, you would all have died. And I, well, I didn’t want to lose my family.’
‘Even if that meant giving Zaeed power for all eternity?’ Pooh Bear said in disbelief.
Lily turned to him, and her eyes glinted.
‘Mr Zaeed was never going to rule,’ she said. ‘When he grabbed me, I saw the soil in his jade box.’ Lily turned to West. ‘It was a kind of soil I’d seen many times before. I’ve been fascinated with it for a long time. It has been sitting in a glass jar on a shelf in Daddy’s study for years. When I saw it in Mr Zaeed’s box, I knew exactly what it was, and so I knew I wasn’t giving Mr Zaeed any power at all.’
Pooh Bear said, ‘Did del Piero know this, too? Is that why he treated Alexander like a little emperor, ready to rule? Did he want Alexander to enter that cavity willingly?’
‘I think so,’ West said. ‘But there was more to it than that. Del Piero was a priest and he thought like a priest. He wanted Alexander to survive the ritual not because he wanted the boy to live and rule, but because he also wanted a saviour, a figurehead, a focal point for his new ruling religion. A new Christ figure.’
Through all this, Wizard sat alone in a corner of the cabin, silent, head bent. Zoe sat with him, holding his hand, equally shocked at the death of her brother, Big Ears.
Lily walked over to them, touched their shoulders.
‘I’m sorry about Doris, Wizard,’ she said with a seriousness that belied her age. ‘And Big Ears, too, Zoe.’
Tear-lines streaked down Wizard’s face; his eyes were moist and red. It was only on the platform that he had learned of Doris’s death at Judah’s hands.
‘She died saving us,’ Lily said. ‘Telling us to get away. She gave her life so that we could escape.’
‘She was my wife for 45 years,’ Wizard said. ‘The most wonderful woman I’ve ever known. She was my life, my family.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Lily said.
Then she took his hand and looked deep into his eyes. ‘But if you’ll take me, I’ll be your family now.’
Wizard looked up at her through his wet eyes . . . and he nodded. ‘I’d like that, Lily. I’d like that a lot.’
A few hours later, Wizard found West alone in his office at the back of the Halicarnassus.
‘I have a question for you, Jack,’ he said. ‘What does all this mean now? We set out to perform the ritual of peace, but now the ritual of power has been initiated—in favour of your country. Can Australians be trusted to possess such power?’
‘Max,’ West said, ‘you know where I’m from. You know what we’re like. We’re certainly not aggressors or warmongers. And if my people don’t know they’ve got this power, then I think this is the best possible outcome—because we’re the most unlikely people on Earth to use it.’
Wizard nodded slowly, accepting this.
‘I won’t let them know if you won’t,’ West said.
‘Deal,’ Wizard said. ‘Thank