Max Rush / The Arrows of Akhenaten
Teen hero and aspiring Casanova, Max Rush is up to his neck in sand, camels, and counter-intelligence conspiracies. But if Max can stay alive long enough he might just solve one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world. Where are the remains of Egypt's heretic Pharaoh? Max must follow the Arrows of Akhenaten to discover the answer. And every step could be his last.
Somewhere in Egypt / 1948
Dr Eugene Kowalski has personally invited Max to join him on a new quest.
Kowalski (singing)
'I'm the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo!'
Max
'If I never see another camel's ass it'll be too soon.'
Kowalski
'Tut-tut, Max. There's no better train than a camel train. And ships of the desert don't sink.'
Max
'I think you're mixing your metaphors again.'
Kowalski
'Am I? You're the one who can't tell his ass from his camel. You'll have us riding giraffes next!'
Max
'Talking of giraffes, do you think Dr Templeton will have everything ready?'
Kowalski's colleague from Harvard University is waiting for them in Cairo.
Making the necessary preparations before they leave for Amarna in Middle Egypt. Where the esteemed Drs have - what should be - a fairly simple task to perform at the behest of the Egyptian Ministry of National Treasures.
Kowalski
'Trust in two things, Max. God and Godfric Templeton. They won't let you down.'
Perched on his dromedary's lurching poop deck, Max is feeling more than a little queasy. Last night's stewed goat has come back to life and is trying to kick its way out of his stomach, and the dried date he's chewing has none of the flavour and all of the texture of a dead cockroach.
Max
'I think I'm going to vomit.'
Kowalski (sings)
'Heave away, me hearties! Heave away! Haul away!'
Max
'You're not helping.'
Kowalski
'You don't hear Lawrence complaining.'
Lawrence, Dr Kowalski's camel, does nothing but complain. Often expressing his displeasure from both ends at the same time.
Their Bedouin guide is a man called Mosul Bin Muhammed, a friend of Dr Kowalski's from before the war, Muhammed is taking them to meet an old man who, he says, has in his possession an even older skull. Older than the sands of the desert. Perhaps as old as the Garden of Eden itself.
Ibrahim Bin Ibrahim welcomes them with open arms and toothless gums. He could be anywhere between eighty and a hundred years old, but there's nothing frail or vague about him. Bin Ibrahim still has the eyes of a falcon and a rogue's courteous charm.
Dr Kowalski is the only one allowed to examine the skull, while Max is dragged away by Bin Ibrahim's dozen or so curious, chattering grandchildren.
Max is a little disappointed at being excluded, but if there's anything worth telling, the Doctor will tell him later.
Max
'Was the skull worth it?'
Kowalski
'Oh, yes! Fascinating! Old, undoubtedly, but exactly how old I can't say. It could be tenth century. Or it could date as far back as the last ice age.'
Max
'Almost as old as Ibrahim.'
Kowalski (laughs)
'Possibly. But don't let him hear you say that.'
The City of Armarna / 3000 BC
The torchlights in the palace flicker. Akhenaten, Great King, Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt is dying. His physicians are powerless to do anything more than alleviate his suffering. His reign has been far too short - a mere seventeen years - to allow him to make the lasting impact he desired with his religious reforms. His wondrous new city, with its lavish buildings, tranquil pools and ordered gardens, is unlike any other in Egypt. Completed in the ninth year of his reign, it has been home for his beautiful and beloved consort Nefertiti and their six daughters.
But Nefertiti is dead, and Akhenaten has been plagued by a mysterious, debilitating illness. His young son Tutankhaten, the child of one of his lesser wives, will succeed him, but it will be his vizier Ay, and his chief general Horemheb, who will wield the true power.
Akhenaten knows there is no hope that they might remain faithful to Aten.
What will remain of his legacy? And how can he protect his own body from the defilement of both tomb robbers and the vengeful priests of Amun? The original plan for his resting place - here in Amarna - is no longer feasible. Nor does he wish to be buried in the Valley of the Kings. The days of the Great Pyramids of the Pharaohs has long since passed.
But there is a final contingency. Akhenaten's most trusted servant, Kamose. He will see to it that none disturb the final resting place of the Son of Aten.
How manifold are thy works, what thou hast made. They are hidden from the face of man.
The City of Amarna / 1948
Akhenaten's tomb is, for all intents and purposes, empty. The hewn rock walls are bare of plaster, there are no paintings, no carvings, and no statues. Only a rectangular stone plinth set slightly off centre supports the stone base of the Pharaoh's unadorned sarcophagus. Also empty.
Max is decidedly underwhelmed.
Kowalski
'Not what you were expecting? Akhenaten founded a new religion dedicated to the worship of Aten, the power and life giving light of the sun. Not long after Akhenaten's death, his son Tutankhamun restored the traditional Gods and temple institutions. Anything that was here was either stolen or destroyed. The city of Amarna was abandoned, and Akhenaten's body was believed to be removed to the royal burial ground in the Valley of the Kings. But his remains have never been found.'
Max
'So why are we here?'
Kowalski
'The Ministry of National Treasures has asked us to lift what's left of the sarcophagus off the plinth and prepare it for safe transport to their museum in Cairo.'
Max watches a small team of Arab and Egyptian labourers sling a cradle of ropes under and between the sarcophagus and its plinth and feed a line through a system of pulleys hanging from a chain attached to a block and tackle.
Dr Kowalski gives them the nod and the stone sarcophagus slowly rises, ready to be swung over and manhandled onto a wheeled flatbed trolley.
Relieved of the weight of the hefty sarcophagus, the plinth begins (unexpectedly) to sink into the floor of the tomb with a loud grinding of stone on stone.
Kowalski
'What the hell?'
Max
'Is that supposed to happen?'
The four fixed sides of the hollow plinth stay together, but the bottom is hinged and opens to reveal a narrow tunnel with steps going down that have been cut into the bedrock.
Max points at the suddenly revealed passage way.
Max
'Should that be there?'
Dr Kowalski is tugging at twin handfuls of his bristling beard. His usually ruddy face has gone a whiter shade of pale.
Kowalski
'Well, that's just... '
The mixed crew of labourers look ready to run for their lives.
Seemingly unfazed, Dr Godfric Templeton removes his glasses and wipes the dusty lenses with a handkerchief he takes from the breast pocket of his leather-elbowed houndstooth jacket.
Templeton
'The Ministry will need to be informed of this.'
Dr Kowalski turns to the frightened workers.
Kowalski
'Anyone breathes an ant's fart about this outside these walls and I'll make damned sure they never work on another site again!'
Max (to himself)
'Mummy's the word.'
The City of Cairo / 1948
Shady deals and shadier characters. Where every vice known to man, and more that are only known to a few, can be bought. Barefoot urchins easily outrun furious stall-holders. Sirens lure the unwary traveller from the upper storeys of balconied brothels.
Two contrasting individuals sit in wicker chairs carefully placed in the accommodating shadow cast by a wide-spanning date palm. Theirs is a quiet corner of an otherwise busy Egyptian ahwa. They have a clear view of their surroundings and they only speak when they're certain no one can hear them.
One is tall, debonair, aristocratic in appearance. His annunciation is as clear and precise as the narrow pin-striping of his charcoal-grey suit. His name is Donald Maclean. Known only, if he's known at all, and only to those who need to know, as "Homer"
The other is short and has a face like a rat. His sunken eyes are shadowed with dark half-moons in shades of aubergine under swollen, yellow-crusted lids. Vladimir Volodkin is a man who has not only witnessed unspeakable atrocities, but has committed more than might be considered his "fair" share. His dress style is shabby-psychopath. His accent is elusive. He isn't a spy, as such, but a facilitator. He makes things happen. His codename is "Grey Goose".
The rat-faced Volodkin stirs a tall glass of iced mint tea.
Volodkin
'So, how are you finding Cairo? Enjoying your promotion?'
Homer
'Hot. My wife hates it.'
Volodkin
'Wait till we get to the summer. She will like it even less. I understand King Farouk is a most convivial and generous host. Didn’t Life magazine call him "the very model of a young Muslim gentleman"?’
Homer (shaking his head)
'He’s venial and corrupt. Egypt came out of the war one of the richest country in the Middle East, but he’s squandering it away.'
Volodkin
'You say squandering, I say pissing. And at least he's pissing in my direction so some some of it trickles down to me.'
Homer
'Was the full implication of my final communique from Washington sufficiently clear?'
Volodkin
'Don't over complicate things. The Americans can't make their atom bombs quickly enough. I'd say that's clear enough. When can Moscow expect your initial report on the British Embassy here?'
Homer
'Give me a fortnight.'
Volodkin drains the last of his tea. Stands up to leave.
Homer
'MI6 has an undercover operative in Cairo.'
Volodkin sits back down.
Volodkin
'Who?'
Homer
'There's more. Washington has its own agent here as well.'
Volodkin
'Besides you.'
Homer
'Besides me.'
Volodkin (snorts)
'The bumbling professor?'
Homer
'The "bumbling professor" is fully trained and has twenty years experience in the field. Not someone to shrug off so lightly.'
A woman in a green silk dress stops to pick a flower from an earthenware planter defining the restaurant's forecourt. The flower is one among dozens of yellow and orange marigolds.
The City of Amarna
Dr Templeton supervises the loading of Akhenaten's sarcophagus onto the truck that will take it, and him, back to Cairo. Leaving Max and Dr Kowalski alone in the tomb, with the temptation of a secret passage way only just discovered and, as yet, unexplored.
Kowalski
'What do you say, Max, do you want to know what's down there? Or do we go back to base and twiddle our thumbs while we wait for some pompous little prick from the Ministry to steal our thunder?'
Max
'I don't think Dr Templeton will be too happy if we go in without him.'
Kowalski
'Godfric is one of my dearest friends, and an excellent archaeologist, but his idea of excitement is Thursday night bingo.'
Dr Kowalski switches on his battery powered, handheld flashlight and shines it into the tunnel.
Kowalski
'Just a quick look. We won't touch anything.'
Bare walls are hewn from the rock. At the bottom of the twenty-one steps - Max counts them - is a small, naturally formed cavern. There's a wall of sandstone blocks directly opposite the steps, and there's nothing natural about it. Chiselled into the face of each large, rectangular block of stone is a single hieroglyph.
Kowalski (reads aloud)
'These be the Arrows of Akhenaten. Only the most loyal and faithful of subjects may pass. The Falcon kneels before the one true God.'
Max
'What is it? Some kind of riddle?'
Kowalski
'The men who designed and built the royal burial tombs would always have more than one way in and out. But what's the prize? The half-circle over a feather next to a zig-zag over a donut is Aten, the Sun. Akhenaten's one true God. Horus is the falcon. Not to be confused with Re, who has the head of a hawk but whose hieroglyph is a donut on a stick and a man holding what looks like a candle. A young fellow from Oxford only made that mistake once. Nasty things, scorpions.'
Max
'What are we supposed to do? Stand on our heads and say their names backwards?'
Kowalski
'It's not magic, Max. It's science. My guess is there's some kind of hidden mechanism behind the wall that unlocks a concealed door. Put your hand on the block with Horus and push. I'll do the same with Aten. On the count of three. Ready? One. Two. Three.'
The stone blocks glide into the wall with little effort, and there's a loud, metallic clank, followed by the sound of a cogged wheel turning. Three irregular shaped flagstones in the chamber's floor suddenly drop away, revealing another narrow tunnel with another set of steps.
Max
'You're a genius!'
Kowalski
'Not really. The Knights of Saint John had something similar in their citadel on Malta. Pick the right apostle to win a prize.'
Max
'What was the prize?'
Kowalski
'You didn't die horribly.'
Twenty-eight steps lead down to a second chamber, another cave, but this one is long and narrow, and instead of a wall there's a stone wheel segmented like pieces of a pie.
Kowalski
'The two Queens of the night wear one Crown.'
Max
'Who are we looking for?'
Kowalski
'Bastet and Khensu. One's a cat and the other is another bird-man with horns and a full moon. Look for a vase and two half-circles. And a full circle over a horizontal zig-zag next to a corn-stalk next to a baby chicken.'
Max (confidently)
'These are easy.'
Kowalski
'Don't count your baby chickens before we have our ducks in a row or we might end up with egg on our faces.'
There's no loud clank this time. Just the rumbling of the heavy wheel rolling into its cut to fit recess. The passage way is level and thirty-five paces in length. At the end is what is unmistakably a door, cast in solid bronze, between two stone columns. Another riddle is inscribed above the door.
Kowalski
'The Mother devours her many Children. Mother is Isis, Goddess of the Nile. Tall building next to a half-circle over a suppository next to a finger-puppet. The other is Hapi. Lord of the Fish and Birds of the Marshes. Twisted vertical ribbon next to a pipe over a square with two lines leaning to the left. You know what to do, Max.'
The bronze door swings open on an inward arc. Another passage way, forty-two steps going up at a steep angle. At the top of the steps is a large, flat slab of smooth stone. Another puzzle is cut into its surface.
Kowalski
'The Scales that weigh Eternity. Set or Sutekh. Murdered his brother. And Thoth. Decides who goes through to the after-life. Knotted rope over half-circle over spoon. A bird with a long curved beak.'
Max
'Nothing's happening.'
Kowalski
'Try lifting it.'
The large, flat slab of stone is part of a floor. Max is able to work the slab free and push it to one side, and they climb into the largest chamber so far. It has a high ceiling with holes in it that allow sunlight and fresh air in. Relieved to finally be able to stand up straight, Dr Kowalski kneads the kinks out of his aching back.
Kowalski
'This is more like it. A man needs room to move! Mites and tites, Max. See them? Do you know how to tell the difference? The "mights" go up when the "tights" come down.'
There's no wall, no wheel, no door, and no slab. The riddle is chipped out of one of the stalagmites, with veins of quartz that glitter rose-pink.
Kowalski
'The Sun's rays are brightest beneath the Earth. Amun-Ra. God of creation. Look for a feather next to balls on a table over a zig-zag line next to a man holding a golf putter.'
Max finds what might be the answer scratched into a stalactite. Centuries of water dripping from the roof of the cave have worn it away until it's almost indecipherable. Pressing on the hieroglyph has no effect. Max doesn't give up, but cups both hands under the rounded tip of the stalactite and heaves.
Max (sings)
'Heave away, me hearties!'
A minor avalanche of loosely piled rocks tumble to reveal another passage way. It's a ramp that slopes down.
Max (counts)
'Forty-seven. Forty-eight. Forty-nine. Forty-nine paces.'
Kowalski
'I expected as much. Multiples of seven. A sacred number to the Egyptians.'
The fifth chamber. The sixth Arrow. A low stone plinth against the far wall.
Kowalski
'The Lion roars with no Man's voice. Has to be Sekhmet. Woman's body. Lion's head. The other one I'm not sure.'
Max
'You're not sure?'
Kowalski
'Could be Ma'at. Goddess of truth. And all men are liars. Or so my wife says.'
Max
'Could be?'
Kowalski
'Okay, let's try candle in a holder next to circle over half-circle next to finger-puppet. And ostrich feather. If that doesn't work then... '
Max
'Scorpions?'
Kowalski
'Let's hope not.'
The stone plinth separates into two equal halves. Behind it is a cramped, narrow, twisting crawl-space. The only way through it is on their hands and knees. It opens onto a square, vertical shaft. Niches dug into the rock provide places for gripping fingers and the toes of their boots.
Max
'The only way is up.'
The exit is a building. One room. Low mud-brick walls. A collapsed roof of terracotta tiles. A sea of red sand outside the unobstructed arched doorway.
One final Arrow scribed with faded ink on a piece of ragged parchment lies among the rubble.
Kowalski
'A King remains a King beyond the River.'
Max
'Are you sure?'
Kowalski
'Relax, Max. This one's as plain as the nose on a sphinx. Tall building over an eye next to a bearded lady. Feather, zig-zag over square, baby chicken, dog on a box.'
Max
'But there aren't any hieroglyphs except those on the note.'
Kowalski
'That's because it's not a riddle. It's a map. These are the directions to Akhenaten's actual resting place. Godfric's the scholar. He'll know. We have to get back to Cairo. Hurry, Max. There's no time to lose!'
Max
'Back the way we came?'
Kowalski
'No! No! We must still be near Amarna! Come on!'
The City of Cairo
Dr Kowalski's research assistant Miss Merrily Mountjoy is enjoying her day burrowing through the bazaars. She doesn't return to the hotel. Dr Templeton begins to worry.
A short walk away from the hotel, Dr Templeton sits at a table in the dining room of a much grander and more luxurious hotel, the aptly named Grand Imperial. He wears a marigold in the breast pocket of his navy-blue suit. A dark-haired woman in a green silk dress slides into the seat opposite.
Templeton
'I need your help.'
Dr Godfric Templeton and British Agent Marigold start searching Cairo for Merrily. An obscenely obese, extremely unattractive Arab, whose known as Baksheesh, tells them Merrily is being taken to Port Said. Where a Soviet submarine will be waiting for Volodkin.
The road to Port Said. Volodkin drives a six-wheeled Bedford truck left to rust when the British army pulled out of Egypt at the end of the war. He has Miss Mountjoy with him. She isn't happy about it.
Dr Templeton and Marigold race after them in an open-topped jeep with Marigold driving.
Volodkin leans out of the driver's side window with a Tokarev TT semi-automatic pistol.
Templeton
'He's shooting at us!'
Marigold hands him her Webley Mk IV .38 service issue revolver.
Marigold
'So shoot back!'
Templeton
'Slow down. You're going to hit the truck.'
Marigold
'Relax, Doctor. I've done this before.'
She jinks the steering wheel with a casual twist and speeds up beside the driver's side of the truck. Volodkin bumps them. Metal scrapes metal as the two vehicles grind together.
Templeton empties all six rounds from the Wembley and draws his own Beretta .32 / 9mm. A compact pistol with a lot of punch.
Marigold
'We have company!'
Max rides out from behind a red-ochre sand dune on a white arabian stallion. Dr Kowalski and Mosul Bin Muhammed aren't far behind. With them are maybe thirty or more Bedouin horsemen.
A vintage WW1 Fokker D.VII biplane - piloted by the one and only pilot serving in the Royal Egyptian Air Force - and armed with twin machine guns mounted on its top wing dives out of the cloudless sky.
The Bedouin scatter. The Fokker comes back for a second run, machine guns strafing the road. The Bedouin return fire with their antique weapons.
Max asks Muhammed if he can borrow his Lee Enfield.
A sceptical Muhammed hands Max the rifle.
Standing in the stirrups, Max puts a .303 bullet between the spinning blades of the biplane's propeller and into the centre of the pilot's forehead.
Muhammed
'It was a lucky shot.'
The Fokker veers away erratically, dips its wings, ploughs nose first into a sand dune, cartwheels end over end, and bursts into a ball of fire.
Volodkin loses control of the truck and crashes into the side of a roadside building on the side of road.
Nick Flaire looks up from behind the bar. Sees a hole in wall of his hole-in-the-wall with the unconscious Volodkin slumped over the Bedford's steering wheel. He helps Merrily out of truck.
Nick
'Of all the dives in all the world, you had to crash into mine.'
The City of Port Said
The hole in the wall of Nick's "Club Cleo" is an improvement. The two Drs Kowalski and Templeton, Marigold, Max and Merrily sit around a table, talking. Nick is back behind the bar.
Max
'I still don't understand why Volodkin had you kidnapped.'
Merrily
'He said something about exchanging me for a British agent. The Russians know they have the Hector Device. I guess he was going to torture Marigold to find out where.'
Marigold
'Good luck with that!'
Templeton
'You don't know?'
Marigold
'I know it's somewhere the Soviets and you Americans won't be able to get your homicidal hands on it.'
Max
'You're the lady from Crete.'
Marigold
'And you're the kid with the golden arm.'
'You saved my life on Icaria when Professor Faust was going to shoot me and throw my body off the cliffs.'
Marigold
'Not just me.'
Max
'Did the Navy find what they were looking for?'
Marigold.
'Yes. We have that too.' *
Kowalski
'So the world is safe?'
Templeton
'For another day.'
*{See Max Rush / The Perils of Hector}
The Oasis of Little Birds / Egypt
Beyond the Bedouin camp the desolate red-brown wastes of the desert stretch as far as the horizon. Unable to sleep, a restless Max stands star-gazing.
Dr Kowalski steps out of his tent and joins him.
Kowalski
'Thinking about tomorrow, Max? I know I am. A lost city. Imagine that! Even the hairs standing up on the back of my neck have hairs standing up on the back of their necks!'
Max
'It was amazing how Dr Templeton remembered the story of the fabled city of Zerzura.'
Kowalski
'True! True! Good old Godfric!'
Max
'Can you hear something? Like voices a long way off? I thought it was just the wind but... '
Kowalski
'Now that you mention it, yes. You know, there’s a tale that Herodotus tells of the Persian king Cambyses. The story goes that he sent a vast army into the western desert to seize the Oracle of Amun in the Siwa Oasis. They were halfway across the desert when a terrible sandstorm swallowed them whole, every last one of them. The Bedouin say their voices can be heard on the wind, pleading to the Gods to release them and grant them the peaceful repose of eternal death.’
Max
'I think they're the voices of my mother's family. I hear them in my dreams.'
Kowalski
'I sometimes wonder if it isn't the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.'
Max
'Those, too. A world of wounded souls.'
'What in the name of all that's holy could ever have possessed us that we would do such dreadful things?'
Dr Kowalski takes a silver flask from a vest pocket, unscrews the cap, puts the flask to his lips, and doesn't stop drinking until it's empty.
Morning. Everyone's up bright and early. A little too early for some.
Dr Templeton (quotes)
“You will find palms and vines and flowing wells. Follow the valley until you meet another, opening to the west between two hills. In this valley you will find a forsaken path. Follow it. For the path will lead you to the City of Zerzura. It is a city of white, like a dove is white. By the closed gate you will find a bird sculpted from the whitest marble. Stretch up your hand to its beak, and take from it a key. Open the gate and enter. There will you find much wealth. There also will you a find king and his queen, sleeping the sleep of enchantment...
Do not go near them...
Do not trespass upon their rest...
Take the treasure and that is all.”
All around them, half-buried beneath the desert dunes, are the ruins of the lost city of Zerzura.
Templeton
'In the end, all must turn to sand and dust.’
On either side of the entrance to the temple of Aten stands a tall, imposing statue.
Kowalski
’The figure on the right is clearly Set. The other is Osiris. This is the place.'
A series of short corridors and stairs twist their way into the building. There are no false entrances, no sealed chambers, no puzzles to solve. The central chamber is full of light, mirrors carefully aligned one with one another capture and disseminate shards of bright sunlight.
In the very centre of the chamber is a black granite stele, and on either side of it are two stone sarcophagi. The heavy lid of one has been forced open. Inside it is a simple coffin of wood, and in the coffin are the wrapped, mummified remains of Akhenaten. All except for his skull.
Kowalski (murmurs)
'Ibrahim. You inglorious bastard.'
Templeton
“Akhenaten. Great in his lifetime. And the Queen whom he loved. What treasure is greater than peace? Into His hands I commit my spirit, taking nothing with me. For I am content to follow the true path. The destinies of all men are written in the stars. And the Arrows of Aten shall point the way."
The City of Cairo
The hotel elevator of the Grand Imperial. Marigold has Max pressed up against a wall. Max has her dress hiked up and his hands on her narrow waist. He kisses her neck the way a trout kisses flies on the sunlit surface of a rippling stream.
Max's shirt is open. Marigold lifts his gold Star of David on its chain.
Marigold
'I didn't know.'
Max
'Does it matter?'
Marigold reaches with two fingers into the valley between her high, firm breasts and shows Max a pendant of her own.
Hers is a round wafer of solid silver with a blue enamelled six-pointed star.
Marigold
'I'm kind of wild. Do you think you can tame me?'
Max
'I'm not sure. But I can try.'
Marigold
'Use your whip, Max. Make me jump through hoops.'
Max
'I don't know your name. Your real name.'
Marigold
'It's not important. Seize the day, kid. You might never get another chance.'
Marigold is not a shrinking violet.