Warrior Heroes: The Pharaoh's Charioteer Read online

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION ~ The Hall of Heroes

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  ~ The River Nile

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  ~ Chariots

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  ~ Who Did What?

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  ~ The Gods

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  BONUS BITS!

  INTERESTING WORDS

  About the author

  INTRODUCTION

  THE HALL OF HEROES

  The Hall of Heroes is a museum all about warriors throughout history. It’s full of swords, bows and arrows, helmets, boats, armour, shields, spears, axes and just about anything else that a warrior might need. But this isn’t just another museum full of old stuff in glass cases – it’s also haunted by the ghosts of the warriors whose belongings are there.

  Our great grandfather, Professor Blade, set up the museum and when he died he started haunting the place too. He felt guilty about the trapped ghost warriors and vowed he would not rest in peace until all the other ghosts were laid to rest first. And that’s where Arthur and I come in…

  On the night of the Professor’s funeral Arthur and I broke into the museum – we knew it was wrong but we just couldn’t help ourselves. And that’s when we discovered something very weird. When we are touched by one of the ghost warriors we get transported to the time and place where the ghost lived and died. And we can’t get back until we’ve fixed whatever it is that keeps the ghost from resting in peace. So we go from one mission to the next, recovering lost swords, avenging deaths, saving loved ones or doing whatever else the ghost warrior needs us to do.

  Fortunately while the Professor was alive I wrote down everything he ever told us about these warriors in a book I call Warrior Heroes – so luckily we do have some idea of what we’re getting into each time – even if Arthur does still call me ‘Finn the geek’. But we need more than a book to survive each adventure because wherever we go we’re surrounded by war and battle and the fiercest fighters who ever lived, as you’re about to find out!

  CHAPTER 1

  “We’re going to Egypt!” Finn yelped. He adored his great grandfather, Professor Blade, and hoped to follow in his footsteps as an archaeologist. Nowhere suggested the adventure of exploring history quite like Egypt.

  “I do believe so,” replied the Professor’s ghost, leaning back in his chair and removing his glasses to clean them with a handkerchief.

  “Not really warriors though, were they?” Arthur remarked. “Isn’t Egypt all about pyramids and pharaohs and mummies?”

  “Oh, they did their fair share of fighting,” the Professor assured him. “You don’t establish a civilisation that lasts for three thousand years without waging a few wars!” Finn’s ears pricked up as the Professor began telling them about Nubian fortresses in the land to the south, Hittites attacking from the north, and sea raiders sailing into the Nile Delta from the Mediterranean.

  “The thing about the Egyptians was that they were lucky enough to live in an incredibly fertile land that allowed them to grow far more food than they needed.” Arthur began to glaze over at this point, although Finn still listened closely. “So they had spare time to fight wars and build temples and pyramids. We know a lot about them because they left so much behind for us to find.”

  “And what about our next ghost?” Arthur wondered out loud, bored by the history lesson.

  “Something of a mystery, this chap,” said the Professor, leaning towards his desk enthusiastically. “We think he may have been a nobleman or a lesser prince because of how he was buried. He was young when he died – only about sixteen or seventeen. And it was a violent death. We could see that when we examined the mummy.”

  “Hang on a minute,” said Finn. “I think we’re about to find out!” Sure enough, the air in the Professor’s study seemed to grow colder, and it felt charged with something like static electricity. The boys shivered in anticipation as they heard light footsteps approaching along the corridor. No matter how often it happened, they were always awestruck when they met one of the ghost-warriors.

  The lights in the study dimmed and then disappeared altogether as the electricity cut out. The Professor and the boys made their way carefully over to the fireplace, where they could see a little in the flickering firelight. Across the room, the door creaked slowly open, and in walked a young Egyptian man, instantly recognisable by his striped headdress, chunky gold necklace and white kilt. He looked around the room curiously, and seeing the group huddled by the fire, he walked towards them. As the young man drew nearer, the boys were both struck by his eyes, thickly defined by black eyeliner and decorated with green paint so that it looked almost as if each eye were at the centre of a green leaf.

  “I am Thamose,” the Egyptian said in a weak voice.

  “And what service might we be able to provide you with, sir?” the Professor asked gently. “How is it that your soul still walks the earth, unable to rest?”

  “The first part of my father’s reign was marked by peace and prosperity,” Thamose began slowly. “Then something happened that changed everything. War broke out between my father’s army and the Nubians.”

  “So you were… are the pharaoh’s son?” Finn asked, eyes wide.

  “My father was Pharaoh, yes. But my mother was Nubian. So when the two kingdoms were at war… Well, things became very difficult for my mother, and thousands of other mothers besides.”

  “And you died in this war?” the Professor enquired.

  “Worse… Far worse… I was taken hostage by the Nubians before the war began. They hoped to force my father to pay them tribute. They did not think he would raise an army. You see,” he said, finally looking each of them in the eye, “it was always my desire to honour my father by fighting bravely as one of his charioteers. I never thought I would be the reason a war started. I was the reason my mother’s life ended the way it did. I was the reason thousands of Nubians and thousands of Egyptians died.”

  Finn and Arthur looked at one another. This sounded like a most unusual mission.

  “So you need us to…?” Finn left the question hanging.

  “Go to Thebes and prevent the war from happening!” said Thamose. “Save thousands of lives!” He was standing directly in front of the boys now, and reached out a hand to grasp each by the arm. It wasn’t a sensation they would ever get used to. The room began to spin and the firelight turned into a belt of light accelerating around them, until it vanished completely.

  CHAPTER 2

  Finn woke with a jolt, unable to see, kicking out sharply with both legs. His foot connected with something hard. There was a loud crash and then a rhythmic scraping sound as if something were spinning to the floor in the darkness. It always took a few minutes for the boys to remember where they were supposed to be when they first woke up in a new time, and this was no exception. Finn gulped down the panic that threatened to overwhelm him, alone in the dark.

  He listened closely as the scraping sound stopped, but it seemed that nobody had been disturbed. So, feeling carefully to check for any more noisy objects, he stood up. He now discovered it was not as dark as he had at first believed. In one direction he could see a small window through which the moon cast a little pale light. The moonbeams acted like a spotlight, and although everything else remained in shadow one thing was lit up beautifully.

  “A chariot!” Finn whispered, as something dawned on him. He stooped down and patted around on the floor to find the object he had kicked over. Sure enough his fingers found the edge of a wheel
lying flat on the earthen floor. Stepping carefully around the wheel, Finn made his way towards the chariot. It was like a small cart, with a low, open-backed platform on two wheels and a waist-high guard wall that curved around three sides. Carved into the metal guard was a selection of human figures with animal heads, shown side-on.

  Finn recognised the carved figures from objects he’d seen in the Hall of Heroes. I’m in Egypt, he thought. And this must be a chariot workshop.

  The details of why he was there came flooding back. The Professor! The pharaoh! The Nubians kidnapping Thamose! I have to find Arthur!

  Finn moved cautiously over to the window and traced his way along the wall, sliding his palms along its smooth, dry surface until they found a door. He stepped out into a quiet street and waited for his senses to adjust.

  The air was very warm and dry, and a gentle breeze carried on it the faint smell of a herb or spice that Finn did not recognise. The moon shone down on simple but well-built buildings that seemed to be coated in something smooth, a bit like cement. The street was narrow and empty, and in one direction Finn could see light shimmering on water. He headed towards it and soon emerged onto a busier street. All around him now were the sounds of laughter and chatter. The road ran parallel to a wide river, presumably the Nile, and on the opposite bank Finn could see the great stone walls, temples and palaces that you might expect to find in an ancient Egyptian city.

  This must be Thebes, Finn thought. And that must be where the pharaoh lives! He stood and stared across the river until the thought of Arthur wrenched him away. One of the brothers usually found that they woke up in the middle of a very dangerous situation, and seeing as Finn’s introduction to Egypt had been relatively gentle, he could only assume that Arthur was in trouble somewhere nearby. He began wandering along the road by the river and was surprised to find it lined with taverns. Somehow he hadn’t imagined that taverns existed in ancient Egypt. When he drew level with a particularly rowdy tavern he strolled inside and began looking for his brother.

  He was distracted almost immediately by a group of twenty or so men and women who were huddled around a table. Most had the same striking eye paint that Thamose’s ghost had worn. Pushing his way to the front of this group, he found a mixed-race teenage girl and an Egyptian man playing a board game. Finn watched, fascinated, as the man picked up four painted sticks and threw them on the table, drawing groans from the crowd, and then swore and moved one of the counters on the board. Finn noticed a dagger and a necklace lying on the table beside the board. It looked as though the players were gambling. The girl reached for the sticks and Finn was about to move on when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, that the girl made a very strange motion with her wrist. She threw her sticks down and this time the crowd roared their approval. She moved all of her tokens off the board and stood up, reaching for the dagger and the necklace.

  As she did so, another coloured stick fell from her hand and clattered down to join the others on the table. There were gasps from the crowd and her opponent’s face darkened.

  “You’ve cheated!” he shouted, slamming his fist down on the table.

  The girl snatched up the gold-handled dagger and whipped it from its sheath. Finn glanced around the table. Several of the men looked very angry. Acting on the sort of impulse that sometimes overtook his naturally cautious calculations, Finn grabbed the girl’s hand.

  “Come on!” he shouted. “Run!”

  The girl needed no encouragement. They dashed out of the tavern together and tore off along the road beside the river. Almost immediately Finn realised he was no use to the girl at all.

  “Where are we running?” the girl panted, her eyes wide and bright. Finn glanced at her as they ran and had the unsettling sense that she was more excited by this experience than afraid. But of course her question had laid bare the problem. Finn knew nothing about Thebes. He had no idea whether the girl had committed a terrible crime or whether the man and his friends were likely to pursue them. And he had no idea where to hide.

  Behind them they heard angry shouts.

  “Follow me!” the girl said, sensing his indecision. She veered off the main road and up a modest street similar to the one where the chariot workshop had been. Then she darted into a narrow alleyway and sped along it. Finn struggled to keep up with her. The gap between them widened, until he followed her around a corner and found… nothing.

  The girl had disappeared! Finn emerged into a small courtyard with three alleyways running off it in different directions. But before he could begin to think about which route to take he felt cold metal at his throat.

  “Who are you, boy?” the girl hissed in his ear. “You don’t seem to know Thebes at all!”

  “I’m nobody,” Finn said, praying the deflection would work. “I’m new to town but I wanted to help because those men looked pretty angry.” It was always difficult to find a satisfactory lie about who he was and where he came from when he arrived in a new time, and he hated doing it.

  “I find it very suspicious,” the girl said, “that you, a stranger to Thebes, just walked into a tavern and the first person you spoke to was me.”

  This seemed an odd thing to say. What was so special about this girl: a gambler and a cheat and probably a thief?

  “What do you mean? Who are you?” Finn asked, hoping to move the subject away from himself.

  “Good question,” came a gruff, angry voice. “Who is the little viper?” Finn’s heart surged with relief at the sound. A paranoid thief holding a knife to his throat was a terrible start to the mission, and he was angry with the girl for being so ungrateful. All he wanted was to slip away and find Arthur.

  “They’re arguing now but they were in it together,” someone else said. “Let’s make sure they never steal again.”

  The girl let go of Finn and both of them spun around. Finn’s heart sank. Inevitably it was a group of men from the tavern who had found them. There were four of them, fanned out across the courtyard. They each held vicious-looking curved swords like scythes and standing a little in front of the others was the man who had been playing the game. Judging by their expressions and the way they held their swords, the men’s intentions were lethal!

  * * *

  Arthur floated contentedly in the water, gazing up at a velvety night sky scattered with a million diamond stars. He had no idea where he was and he was perfectly relaxed, as if he had just woken up from a very long, deep sleep. His blank mind registered the sound of a paddle pulling through water. Must be a boat nearby, Arthur thought lazily. And then the paddle connected with his head.

  He recoiled from the blow, crying out and submerging his face at the same time. Water filled his mouth, his head rang and the rest of his body jolted into action, thrashing in wild panic as he realised he was under water. He came up gasping for air and shouting for help. A small rowing boat lay alongside him and he grabbed at its side.

  “Give me your hand, friend,” someone said, and a few seconds later Arthur had been hauled out of the water and lay sprawled in the bottom of the boat. His rescuer, a teenage boy of mixed race, was the boat’s only other occupant, and Arthur thanked him, wiping the water from his eyes.

  “Where am I?” he asked, rubbing a very tender bruise on the side of his head.

  “That blow from the oar must have addled your senses! You are on the River Nile of course. But how did you come to be here, swimming at night? Do you not fear the crocodiles?”

  Arthur looked up and shook his head slowly, trying to buy time as the memories crowded in: Egypt – the Professor – Finn!

  “Can you take me to Thebes?” he asked. The boy laughed.

  “Of course! Thebes is behind us and Thebes is in front of us. I’m going to the east side, if that’s alright with you. You can call me Thami.”

  Thamose! Arthur thought with a flash of recognition. He nodded and thanked Thami again as the boy began to paddle. Picking up a spare paddle, Arthur joined in.

  “I’m Arthur,” he said
as they moved across the calm water. “I’m here to find my brother.” This didn’t really explain why he was floating in the river, but Arthur figured he would be able to blame his head injury for any gaps in his story.

  “And I need to find my sister,” said Thami. “Perhaps we can help each other.”

  They were close to the shore now, close enough to hear the raised voices coming from the taverns as the people of Thebes drank and made merry. They heard angry shouts, and saw a group of men pointing along the riverbank at two fleeing figures.

  “That’s my sister!” shouted Thami, just as Arthur yelled, “That’s my brother!”

  They pulled frantically with their paddles, desperate to reach land as the men chased after Thami’s sister and Finn. At the side of the river Thami hastily tied the boat to a wooden post and reached down to grab a fishing net. He threw a boat hook to Arthur before leaping out and racing up the bank. They were just in time to see the last of the men disappearing down a narrow side street and they followed in hot pursuit, soon entering the alleyway that Finn had run down a few moments earlier.

  They rushed towards the courtyard and saw the men all standing around. Without breaking stride, Thami hurled the net at the group. Two of the men went down, cursing in the tangle. Thami’s sister lunged at the man she had conned and he stepped back just as Arthur swung the boathook through the air and knocked him out with a blow to the head. Finn leapt forward and grabbed the unconscious man’s sword before he, Arthur and the girl turned and began to advance on the one remaining man. He took a few moments to calculate the odds, then turned and ran.

  “Nefi, what have you done this time?” said Thami to his sister. “More gambling I suppose?”

  “Oh, brother, you sound like the high priest,” Nefi flashed back, pulling a face. Then, looking at Finn, she said, “Thank you, stranger. I apologise for the trap. I am in your debt.”