Somewhere West of the Upper Nile
Lt. S. J. W. Churchill
Hearing persistent rumors of a strange and ancient city somewhere west of the upper Nile, the Governor General requested a report to substantiate the claims. I was given command of a squad of seven privates, held in line by Corporal E. Marsh and Master Sgt. L. O'Keefe. Our orders were to proceed up river forthwith and commence an investigation. The annual flooding had almost resided, I ventured to the docks, whereupon I engaged the services of one Selim Akbat as guide to the area in question. The following morning, we embarked supplies and porters on a serviceable launch and proceeded on the journey south.
Arriving late in the afternoon on a particularly warm day, we disembarked at a seemingly anonymous location with only low hills to break up the sandy waste. There was little to differentiate this location from endless miles of sun-baked desert. Indeed, the troopers were incredulous anything could survive in the languid heat. Mr. Akbat assured us this was indeed the proper landing point and to our surprise we soon discovered a rash of fresh tracks along the recently flooded river bank. We made camp and the following morning made arrangements with the launch crew before setting out.
Row upon row of stony hills lay across our path as we marched west from the river. For several days we moved onwards and as the occasion would merit, a trooper would ascend the steeper rises to scan the lay of the land. Several times shouts and clanking were reported yet nothing was to be seen. Finally, late one day, we reached an area where the hills were more scattered and the land was no longer ascending from the river valley.
With the sunrise, I climbed a nearby hill and spied an array of sparkling reflections brought on by the light from the east. I resolved that surely this must be our destination and marked it by compass that we might find it on the day's march. Upon hearing this news, Mr. Akbat became quite unsettled and requested immediate payment for his troubles. As I had not the fee, he took a signed note and fled away down our traveled path.
Around midday the elusive shouts and clinking heard earlier manifested themselves as 3 other marching columns, each of 12-15 individuals. I first recognized the cockaded helms of Bersaglieri, another column consisted of rather familiar uniformed Egyptians under an Ottoman banner. However, I failed to make out the origins of the third column whose members appeared to be turbaned but led by men in slouched hats. The night was upon us before any could manage the last few miles to the apparently popular destination. Each took a hilltop and settled in for the night.
The sun found us assembled and in high spirits for the short tromp to the patrol's objective and it soon became evident we were following the Egyptians while we in turn were followed by the strangely turbaned men and they by the Italians. Upon sighting a high wall surmounted by battlements and stationed with towers, the Egyptians broke to the left and began deploying. I took our column at the double around a hill to the right and deployed while the turbaned men ascended the hill itself in a loose formation. The Italians, seeing everyone else deploy, took it upon themselves to do so as well, upon a hill, well to the rear.
At this point the Egyptians began hailing the fortification, which appeared to be manned! There was a large gate to the front of the hill we were deployed about and it did not seem to be gated. As such, I took it upon myself to investigate. Imagine my surprise, a few steps from the gate, when a fusillade erupted from the Egyptian ranks upon the strangely dressed men patrolling the ramparts!
Immediately, the battlements seethed with activity and a shower of arrows descended upon us. All columns opened fire and I drew my pistol to try my luck as well. After a few volleys, the walls cleared and all commands began to advance, the Egyptians to the wall, the turbaned ones to the gate, and my patrol dashed forward to form column on me. I suppose the Italians moving as well.
"Fancy meeting you here!”, I shouted as the slouch hats led the turbans forward. I recognized kit amongst them from the Indian Army and surmised these must be Sikhs, perhaps of a mercenary tilt. The Egyptians began to go up the wall as my men prepared to double time through the gate now being charged by the erstwhile Sikhs. Gunfire exploded inside the gate and then the Sikhs were through. “Forward, at speed, Sgt O’Keefe!” I ran to the gate as the Italians began assaulting the wall to our right. We were through in a moment and angled left of the crouching, firing Indians who were assaulting a gateway onto a long ramp leading to a large building atop a columned foundation. On the left was a huge Sphinx, to the right, an ebony Horus tall as a three story building.
Finding no entrance to the building at ground level, I held the men at the ready, looking for a suitable opening above. There was one, behind a gaggle of strangely crowned and outfitted personages at the top of the ramp, now invested by the Indians. As I prepared to turn my men to the ramp’s entrance, I watched Egyptians and Italians begin to clamber down the walls into the large court. We reached the ramp and ran by still writhing bodies of natives, struggling to run away despite their wounds. Nearing the top of the ramp, startled shouting and firing began inside the temple. This was followed more shouting and then whoops and laughter. I charged in to see men holding wondrous artifacts, an injured man being examined, and a large hole in the floor with a ladder pointing down. I wasted no time, “Sergeant Major, follow me!” Down we went.
Doorways to the left and right, an arched entry way was in front, all lit by torches. I ordered Corporal Marsh to take three men to the right, the rest followed me straight through the entry way arch. The ceiling was high and the room was cavernous, lit by torches and small openings somewhere up above. Gunfire erupted in the room Marsh had entered, but I was racing toward an enormous statue of Anubis, front and center. The dog’s eyes were glowing and the entire statue seemed to radiate a sense of purpose and even supernatural power. A large oil lamp hung in front, a funerary statue was off to one side. Fresh, legible hieroglyphs covered the statue, indeed, everything since we had first entered the building at the top of the ramp. As I ran my hand across the front of the statue’s base, I felt a miniscule crack going down, too straight to be accident. I summoned Private Ogilvie to assist and we began pushing on the face of the wall until it began to move. “Stand back!”, I yelled, and a doorway opened revealing a well lit interior. I rushed inside.
Two masked figures were at the back of the room, the intervening area covered in vessels and artifacts of precious metals and gems. The masked men turned and flourished wicked hand weapons. “My God!” muttered Ogilvie, he brought up his rifle and fired. My pistol fired as well, striking one figure repeatedly, knocking its weapon away. Ogilvie rushed forward brandishing his bayonet, but his enemy swept it aside and dealt him a devastating blow. I pulled my sword and slashed my opponent across the neck, the mask seeming to be actually part of its body as it flew against a wall. The body crumpled and Ogilvie’s killer faced me, raising its snout to howl a chilling challenge. Then quicker than humanly possible, it jumped forward, swinging it’s bloody war mace. I barely blocked the blow with my sword and shoved the muzzle of my pistol against its neck. When I fired, it only stunned the creature! I took advantage of it’s confusion and struck it down with the blade. All was quite within the room.
Running out, I ordered Private Plowden to supervise the porters in loading up interesting artifacts and moving them to the ladder area. As I reloaded my Webley, I trotted off to the right with the remaining 2 men. The cavernous room was in total chaos as the Egyptians and Italians had entered as well and were running toward other areas of interest. Gunfire and shouts continued as we drew up to another doorway. It was open and well lit from within. This time, I positioned the men to either side before entering.
Two forms were moving about. Both were completely covered in ratty cloth strips wrapped about their bodies from head to foot. They were quite agitated but moved ponderously. I yelled, “Cut them down!” and as rifles cracked, I saw puffs of dust erupt from the bodies. It seemed the blade would be necessary again. “Bayonet, Advance!” I pulled my sword and attacked, however, these terrifying creatures were not as powerful as those in the last room and were quickly dispatched. Again, the artifacts in the room begged attention and we picked from the best and left the rest for another time.
Out in the cavern, it had quieted, except for some excitement on the other side with the Bersaglieri. Two had just emerged from a room yelling in fear. As we moved off toward the ladder way, the Bersaglieri regrouped for another try and three of them slipped into the room again. There were shots, screams, silence. Only two came back out. They held wondrous objects which they stuffed into sacks. Indeed, everyone seemed to be holding something or another of marvelous ancestry made from precious materials.
My men had congregated at the foot of the ladder. I spotted the sergeant supervising the packing of objects, “Sgt. O’Keefe, report!” He described the attack by Cpl Marsh into the rooms to the right of the ladder. Marsh had met some of the cloth covered characters and had been wounded while securing the room. O’Keefe had taken over when a soldier brought him out. O’Keefe then advanced into a second room inhabited by a fiendish creature straight from nightmares, a giant spider of enormous proportion. It was unaffected by rifle fire and as it advanced it hissed and screamed like a wild bird. Two of its legs were destroyed by slashing bayonets but the spider had cornered the men away from the entrance. O’Keefe charged the beast and skewered it through the head and was well into the body before it finally died. His rifle was covered in filth.
The light at the head of the ladder beckoned and so it was time to leave. As I entered the room above, I heard rifle fire outside the building. I shouted down the hole for the men top bring everything they could and to prepare for more fighting when they got up the ladder. I took the first three men out the door, into the blessed sunlight, and found the Sikhs and Egyptians in a hot fight with archers and javelin throwers. We dumped our loads and opened fire. As the men filed up, carrying the wounded corporal, I directed them down the ramp, under our covering fire. The last man up had a wild look about him, “the Eities is having a fight with Demons, Sir!” I did not doubt him at all.
All of the artifacts had been stacked outside the door and the men were engaging the enemy with slow deliberate fire. I ran down the ramp and found the Egyptians were retreating up. I picked four privates and pushed through the Egyptians, out into the courtyard. A dead soldier was just outside the door. We opened fire on the advancing archers while the Sikhs kept up a desultory fire from the battlements surrounding the outer gate. The enemy drew hand weapons and dashed forward to engage us. We fought hand to hand and the enemy survivors retreated into hiding.
There were dead and injured bodies scattered about the courtyard, we were victorious for the moment, but it was time to leave.