"Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Stones"
by Canyon

CHAPTER 1

El Mansura , Egypt
Late April 1939

The sun was just beginning to set. Two figures walked quickly through the desert.

They had left their camels behind and now they were getting closer to their destination.

After ten minutes or so they came to a great temple, The Temple of the Eye of Horus, as it was known. One of the men struck a match and lit a torch. They moved forward in the dark and the one holding the torch passed it to the other, and he located a hidden lever to the side of the temple and pushed, hard. With a great loud creak the door rolled open to reveal a lit dusty staircase.

“Well, my friend”, said the Egyptian. “This is it. We are here. Shall we proceed?” The other man looked at him. He looked slightly out of his usual attire dressed in a galabayo.

“Okay, Sallah”, said Indiana Jones. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes, my friend. I am.” They proceeded down the stone steps. There was an eerie silence and Indy was pretty sure that they were being watched.

Indy had done some research into this particular temple and had heard about an artefact consisting of a necklace, but not any ordinary necklace. He had heard little about it but, what he had heard was that it consisted of a piece of leather thong and had various symbols written on beads surrounding the main part of it and there in the centre of it was a symbol representing the Eye of Horus. It was said to possess a strange mystical energy and when Marcus Brody, his friend and colleague had told him that there would be an Egyptian themed display of artefacts, he knew he just had to go and find it. So, he contacted his old friend, Sallah in Egypt:

“Indy, by the Gods. It is you! How can I be of assistance?”

“Sallah. What makes you think that my phone call is about an artefact?” Indy had asked in jest.

“Indy, my friend. You know as well as I that you are interested in something happening in my lands. Now, what can I do?”

And so they had met in Cairo.

It had been great to see Sallah again. He had always promised to write and Sallah had done the same, but with the world’s best intentions, had never managed to get round to doing so. Sallah had told Indy that he was always more than welcome to visit, anytime, and his wife, Fayah felt the same. After catching up on old news, they had travelled to El Mansura by camel and planned to arrive there by sunset.

They carried on walking down the steps and when they reached the bottom, they both stopped and they both heard something.

“Wait”, said Indy, holding up a hand.

“Sounded like a cat”, said Sallah.

They walked on further and were met with a series of passageways and tunnels.

“Now what?” asked Indy.

Sallah thought a moment. Then he began to walk through the second passage.

“What makes you so sure”, asked his friend.

“I have been given some information about this place. Things seem to work in some sort of order. But unfortunately, I do know that it is not the best place to be. We should not spend too much time in this place. It is dangerous.”

“Relax, Sallah”, said Indy nonchalantly. “Nothing is going to go wrong.”

Just then there was a strong breeze, which made the torch flames flicker.

“Okay”, said Indy. “Maybe we should think about moving.”

As the walked further down the corridor, Sallah took them down a series of intricate passageways. He seemed to know where he was going and Indy would have probably been able to work it out but it may have taken him a bit longer as this was no ordinary Egyptian temple. A few minutes later they came to an awe-inspiring view. Ahead of them was a large room and on each side was every Egyptian deity that Indy and Sallah had ever seen including Bast, Horus, Anubis, Osiris and once again torches lighted the room. Slowly, Indy and Sallah stepped into the room and at the far end of the room it was pitch black. In the blink of an eye, the torches lit up to reveal a giant Statue of Horus, looking proud and majestic, which reached the ceiling. He wore a double crown, representing Upper and Lower Egypt, and on the crown a hissing cobra was depicted. Cautiously, the two archaeologists approached the statue. What happened next was even more bizarre. The torches dimmed and there was a humming sound, which seemed to come from the great statue. Then there was a great loud boom and the whole room began to shake violently, throwing Indy and Sallah onto the floor and then suddenly the whole room went black.

CHAPTER 2

Sallah came to his senses. The room seemed to be getting lighter. A great light shone from the statue of Horus and Sallah looked over at Indy who seemed to be old cold.

“Mortals!” The statue seemed to speak.

“Horus”, Sallah knelt and bowed to the statue. He shook Indy awake.

“Indy. Indy. You’ve got to see this!”

Slowly Indy woke up. “What! Must have hit my head when I fell”, he said.

Like Sallah, he knelt in front of the great statue and stared.

“You have travelled far”, the voice boomed. “I know what you seek. You have managed to save mankind more than once.”

Indy and Sallah looked at each other and smiled.

“I have followed you both closely and I see a great many things in your past as well as your future, especially the one who is not from this land.”

Indy smiled and whispered to Sallah. “Not about to argue with a God.” Sallah grinned back.

“Please, rise”, boomed the voice and as they did, something appeared and landed on the sand covered floor.

It looked like, but couldn’t be, thought both of the men.

The necklace. There it was, right in front of them.

“I don’t understand”, said Indy to the statue.

“You have been chosen by the Gods,” said Horus.

“Chosen?” said Indy and Sallah said simultaneously.

“Yes”, said Horus. “You have done a great many things and have proven yourself.”

Indy nodded. This was really something. Talking to a God.

“There is one more thing.”

“Yes”, said Indy, reluctantly.

“If you succeed in getting out of my great temple, the necklace is yours and I know that you will choose the correct path. But if you fail, the necklace will be returned to me, and both of you will stay here and you will belong to the Gods.”

Indy and Sallah looked at each other and stood there for a moment not knowing what to say. The room began to shake again.

“Go”, boomed Horus.

“Okay”, replied Indy.

Indy picked up the necklace and put it on. It tingled slightly when he touched it. He and Sallah left the room, and the whole temple seemed to be shaking. They continued on back to the corridor but when they got there, the corridors had changed.

“Well”, said Indy. “Looks like we’ll be here for a while.”

“We must think. We don’t have much time”, said Sallah. “Quickly, this way.”

He was going on instinct and was glad that they moved, as where they had just been standing, a big slab of stone came down from the ceiling and hit the floor with a thud.

“That was close”, said Sallah, as Indy pulled him out of the way of another piece of stone hit the floor.

“Thank you”, he gasped.

“C’mon”, said Indy. “Let’s get out of here”

Things seemed to be getting worse. The whole place felt as if it was going to fall down and felt like a giant earthquake.

As they ran on, there was a loud hissing noise.

“Oh, God”, said Indy.

“This way”, Sallah was motioning for them to go in the direction of the hiss.

“Um, Sallah. I don’t think-” Indy began.

“Indy. It’s okay. It’s our way out. I know it.”

Indy took a gulp of air.

“Okay. After you.”

Slowly, they approached the next room. It was dark and they didn’t get the chance to grab their torch in the room where Horus’ statue was. Sallah walked into the room and stood in the doorway. The hissing grew louder and is it did, torches lit the room. A huge Cobra, as nearly as big as the room itself was poised in the middle of the room, it’s eyes closed.

“By the gods!” exclaimed Sallah.

Indy, then saw what Sallah meant.

“Jeez, that’s a big snake!”

At once the giant snake’s eyes opened. Indy was transfixed, not only by the size of the snake but also by the fact that he hated snakes. He always had, ever since he was thirteen and had chased some grave robbers for the Cross of Coronado, and had fell into a box of snakes on a circus train.

“Great”, muttered Indy under his breath.

“Okay, walk slowly”, said Sallah. “No sudden movements”, but Indy couldn’t seem to move.

Then he forced himself to move and could feel sweat running down his back. Slowly, he approached the snake, and it bared its fangs and went to strike Indy in the chest. Indy yelled, but the snake did not attack him.

“Noooo”, it yelled. “You cannot desssstroy me”

Then Indy had an idea. He took the necklace off and threw it into the snake’s open mouth. The snake writhed and fell about as if it had been struck. Suddenly it keeled over, struggled slightly, collapsed and died. Then something happened. The snake gradually disappeared, leaving the necklace intact lying on the floor.

“Indy! Are you okay?” asked Sallah.

“Yeah. Seemed we proved ourselves.”

“No, Indy. You proved yourself. Thank you for saving my life back there.”

Indy shrugged.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. As I recall, you saved my life more than once when I went searching for the Ark of the Covenant.”

He put the necklace back on. Then they walked to the door at the end of the room and opened it.

“Indy. We made it!” said Sallah.

They stepped out into the night air.

“Not quite”, said Indy.

In front of them there were stood some soldiers with rifles and a man wearing a dark suit. One of the soldiers stepped forward and before Indy could grab the rifle, he hit Indy in the forehead with the butt of the rifle. Sallah hit one of the other soldiers and that was the last thing Indy remembered as he fell to the ground and blacked out.

Indy woke up, Sallah hovering over him.

“Indy. Indy. By the Gods. You’re awake.”

“Get up”, ordered the man in the suit.

Indy managed to get to his feet. He was bleeding and blood was running down his face. His forehead was throbbing and hurt where he had been struck. He looked at the man in the suit.

“Mind telling me what the hell is going on around here?” said Indy, angrily.

“Ah. Dr. Jones. I see you don’t know me. My name is Afusek”, he said in an Arabic accent.

Sallah cursed him.

“Ah, yes. Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir”, said Afusek. “I have followed your career closely.”

“Cut to the chase”, said Indy. “What do you want?”

“The necklace, of course”, he said in an unpleasant voice.

“And what are your intentions?” asked Sallah.

“That’s not your concern.”

A soldier approached Indy, except this time he was ready. He wrestled with the rifle, pulling it from the soldier and pushed him to the floor.

“Okay”, he said. “I think I’m calling the shots now.” Sallah looked at him. “Sorry, we’re calling em’.”

The solider that fell to the floor got up, yelled and ran into the distance. They had their back to the stone door and did not see what the others had seen. Behind them the emblem of Horus and begun to move and had manifested itself into a three-dimensional figure. The rest of the men looked wide-eyed and ran. Indy and Sallah looked at each other.

“You have proved yourself, traveller”, a familiar voice boomed, from behind them.

They both turned round and bowed their heads. It was Horus.

“The necklace is yours”, said the God.

“Thank you”, said Indy.

They went to find the camels and Indy took the necklace off and handed it to Sallah.

“Here. Make sure this goes to the Museum in Cairo.”

Sallah protested.

“But, Indy. It was given to you, by a God, no less. Please keep it.”

“Sallah”, said Indy, as they carried on walking. “I think that you should have it.”

Sallah stopped.

“Indy, you’re a wonderful friend and I class you as a part of my family. I want you to have it. Besides, I’m sure Mr Brody is looking forward to having it in his display, and I’m sure he would be more than interested in hearing this tale.”

“Wait”, he turned to Sallah. “How do you know about that?”

“Well”, Sallah confessed. “Marcus suggested it. We thought you needed to go on an adventure as things have been a bit quiet lately.”

Indy was dumbstruck.

“You! He- I can’t believe it!” he said, indignantly. “Conspiring-“ He held up a hand. “Wait till I get back to the States. I’ll-”

They both laughed.

“Well”, agreed Indy. “I guess it’s about time I did need to go on an adventure, and it certainly turned out to be fun.”

“Yes, my friend. It was fun. I am sorry that soldier hit you on the head. Are you all right?”

“Apart from a slight headache, I’m fine”, Indy told him.

“Come on”, said Sallah. “Well go to my sister’s house to treat that wound. She doesn’t live too far from here.”

“Is she pretty?” asked Indy, as they mounted their camels.

“Of course”, replied Sallah. “She’s related to me”, he said smiling.

They both laughed and headed towards his sisters house.