Guatemala Maxx
and Eye of Horus
A story by Tygon Panthera
After an idea by Pflarrian Collifox
This story is © 2005 by Marc-Dennis Horn. This story may not be sold or used for commercial profit in any form or fashion. This story may not be modified in any way. This story may not be posted on a mirror site or any other Internet site without the written permission of the author. This story may not be distributed on print, magnetic, electrical, optical or any other mediums.
David ‘Guatemala Maxx’ Celis © by himself
Michael Joseph Regan III and IV © by themselves
Pflarrian Collifox © by Brian Empanger
Markus White © by Mark White
Victoria Panthera © by Joshua Fox
All other characters are © by Marc-Dennis Horn
Chapter 5
- The ruins of Asyuot, Egypt, Africa
1:28 am, Monday, 14th of May, 1939 -
“So, this is it?”
“Yep,” Maxx replied, “that’s all that is left of Asyuot.”
Mike emitted a low hum and Maxx had to chuckle. The raccoon may have read almost every book about archeology out there, but just like everybody else he was disappointed by the first view of their dig site. Somehow every fur expected to see ruins towering into the sky, but such cases were extremely rare. Time was merciless with everything furkind had ever built, and even if Asyuot had already been excavated before, here in the middle of the desert the remnants of an ancient city could be buried under masses of sand in a matter of months. Here and there a ruined wall poked out of the yellow mass.
“Don’t worry, Mike,” the feline said, patting the raccoon on the shoulder. “Tomorrow we start work and you will see, we will have Asyuot unearthed in no time.”
“Unearth...” Mike muttered as he allowed Maxx to pull him away from the site.
“That’s why we call it a dig, my friend,” Maxx said, pushing his hat back to get a good look at the clear night sky. “We should get as much sleep as possible now, for we’ll have to get up before sunrise.”
“Why that early?” the raccoon asked as they steered towards the mini town of tents that the workers had built within the last few minutes.
“Because we’re in the desert, my friend,” Maxx replied with a chuckle. “Believe me, we want to get as much work as possible done before the sun is fully up. The sand will get hot enough to fry eggs on it.”
“Why did I ever come here?” Mike asked loudly. It was obviously a rhetorical question but Maxx answered anyway.
“We both know the answer to that,” the feline said, a reply to which Mike could only agree with a nod. The raccoon bowed lightly as he entered the biggest tent in the middle of the tent-town, followed by Maxx.
Unseen by either of them, a small hooded figure followed them, keeping to the shadows of the tents to conceal it’s presence. The sole moment when it was visible was when Mike pulled aside the heavy curtain that shielded the entrance of the center tent from the outside world and the flickering of the lamps within illuminated the figure, and the smiling rodent’s face.
Once Maxx had disappeared in the tent she moved again, as silent and quick as a shadow. Within a matter of moments she was at the side of the large tent, had pulled her hood back and held one of her huge ears close to the fabric.
Within the tent, Mike and Maxx were greeted by Pflarrian and Ohmar, who were sitting at a crude table.
“Have you found anything of interest, my friends?” Ohmar asked in his usual, loud voice.
“Only lots and lots of sand,” Mike replied, the disappointment obvious in his voice. It made Ohmar laugh loudly.
“This wouldn’t be a desert without sand,” the lion said with a wink. “Not to worry, my friend. We will have this city dug up in no time.”
The raccoon sighed as he sat down on one of the chairs that stood ready for him and Maxx.
“Ohmar and I have been studying the map in the diary,” Pflarrian spoke up for the first time. “I think we all agree that the location of the additions Mike’s father made to it is the most likely place to start. As soon as it is bright enough to see properly outside, Maxx and I will triangulate the exact position and then we can start digging.”
“Have you any idea what that place is that we are digging up?” Mike asked.
“I think it is the center of Asyuot’s necropolis,” Maxx said and both Pflarrian and Ohmar nodded in agreement.
“The tombs?”
“Exactly,” Pflarrian said. “If the map is correct, this new building your father added to the map could be the central tomb where the kings and queens of Asyuot were buried. If the Eye of Horus is here then this is one of the more likely places where it might be.”
Mike nodded, satisfied with that explanation.
“Well, then I guess we should all try and get some rest,” Maxx said, looking around. “We have a busy day ahead of us.”
After exchanging a few words of good night, each of the furs turned towards the piles of fabrics and furs that were their beds and tried to fall asleep. Outside of their tent the mouse slowly moved away from them and disappeared into the shadows between the tents.
#
Maxx had not been joking about how hot it could become in the desert, Mike learned during the next day. The morning had not been that bad. It was, in fact, rather nice. The sun had just begun rising over the dunes that surrounded the ruins of Asyuot and a gentle breeze brought cool air with it. Pflarrian and Maxx worked for about an hour on determining the tomb’s position, and with that the place where they were to start digging. From that point on things went downward. The task of digging was an ungrateful one, for the sand almost behaved like a liquid. For each shovel-full that one fur got away from the side at least as much sand flowed back into the hole. However, eventually the workers had produced a nice hole, seemingly in the middle of the desert. They had used wooden planks to keep the sand from rushing back into the hole.
Mike had tried to help but he could only work for a few minutes before he was too exhausted to go on. Having spent most of his life in Furnet College’s library, he was not used to doing physical work on this level, not to mention the burning sun that was attacking them mercilessly.
Maxx and Pflarrian seemed to have no such problems and so it happened that they were digging as Mike sat down in a piece of crumbled wall to catch his breath. He could not comprehend how they could work in conditions like these, but the raccoon guessed it was all just a matter of getting used to them.
He rubbed an already soaked rag over his forehead in the vain attempt to get rid of some of the sweat that was running down his face. It wasn’t until he gave up that he heard a soft, familiar voice.
“Would you like something to drink?”
Mike looked and his eyes met those of the mouse that had returned his book the other day. She had pulled her cloak back to reveal her face and in her small paw she held a cup filled with sparkling water. As far as the raccoon was concerned it was the most beautiful sight he had ever laid eyes on and accepted the cup thankfully. He drained it very quickly and blushed as he noticed that the female was watching him. How very greedy he must look, was the thought that filled Mike’s mind as the mouse simply smiled.
“Do not worry,” she said. “I understand. The desert must be unbearable for someone not used to it.”
Mike smiled too as he nodded, not taking his eyes of the rodent. She was beautiful, he realized, her sleek face and tawny fur making for a very nice sight. The line of dots that seemed to be drawn over her left eye fascinated the raccoon for some reason.
“Ummm... I am Mike Regan,” the raccoon eventually said, his ears blushing lightly with embarrassment.
“My name is Mira,” the mouse replied. “It is nice to meet you.”
Over the next half hour or so, Mike and Mira talked and was far as the raccoon was concerned it was the most pleasant time that he had spent in this oven of a country so far. He told her why he was here, that his father disappeared several years ago and that they were looking for him now.
“But what was your father doing here?” the mouse asked, having sat down beside Mike
“He was looking for the Eye of Horus,” he said. An expression of fear and awe appeared on Mira’s face.
“The Eye of Horus,” she said in a low voice. “That is a dangerous thing to seek.”
“Oh, I know that,” Mike replied with a bitter chuckle. “We wouldn’t be here, looking for him if it wasn’t.”
Mira smiled, reaching out to rest one of her paws on Mike’s larger one. “I hope that we will find him,” she said, smiling.
“What are you doing here?” a loud voice called out. A tall fox with pale red fur walked towards them looking, maybe not angry, but at least annoyed. “You are not paid to court our sponsors,” he added a moment later.
“But we-” Mike began but Mira cut him short.
“It is okay, do not worry,” she whispered to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she hurried away.
There was a rather wide grin on Mike’s muzzle as he looked after the mouse. Only after a few moments did he realize that he was not alone and turned to face the fox.
“Can I do something for you?” he asked, rather coldly, not happy that the vulpine had interrupted their conversation.
“Yes, you can be more careful when choosing your partners in the future,” the fox snapped back and then spun around to return to his work.
Mike blinked in surprise. Partners? What the heck is that guy talking about? Mike wondered and he was still wondering as he rose from his makeshift seat to return to the dig himself.
#
“Well, that was unsuccessful,” Pflarrian muttered as they returned to the tent. It was well after sunset and aside from more and more sand they had not unearthed much.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say so,” Maxx said. The feline was in a much happier mood, for what they had found were signs that someone had been digging at exactly that place before. “I’m sure, tomorrow we will enter whatever is left of the tomb.”
“Your word in the gods’ ears,” the canine-vulpine hybrid replied.
Mike was in an even worse mood. The raccoon was deeply disappointed by the lack of visible progress, aside a not-even-very-big hole in the desert. However, Maxx could understand his dismay. He remembered his own first experiences with the practical part of archeology. It was a tedious work that advanced very slowly before real results were visible, and even when something was finally unearthed and one had dug up some sort of artifact, everything had to be catalogued before the work could go on. Archeology was not for the impatient ones. That was the first lesson Maxx had to learn years ago, and it was the first he tried to teach his own students.
“No reason to worry,” the feline said to Mike, who had let himself drop on one of the chairs with an audible sigh.
“For some reason everyone says that around here,” Mike grunted as he reached for a cup to fill it with water from the large barrel they had brought.
“Well, it is true,” Maxx replied as he sat down himself. He put his hat on the table and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Never worry until the problems are actually there. You will have plenty to worry about then.”
“So we don’t have problems yet?”
“Oh no, not at all,” the feline said, shaking his head. “Excavations take a while. It is perfectly normal to find nothing at all on the first day. Frankly, if we had found something I’d be worried,” Maxx added with a chuckle.
“Whatever,” Mike muttered after draining his cup in a single, long gulp.
For a few minutes the three furs sat in silence, drinking water, resting their exhausted bodies and enjoying the fact that the heat of the day had faded away. The silent atmosphere was unbroken until the heavy curtain at the entrance was thrown aside and Ohmar appeared. Looking very excited he called something in Egyptian, talking so fast that Maxx was having problems understanding him, but Pflarrian had no such problems and jumped up mere seconds later.
“They found something!” he called to the two other furs and a moment later they were all following Ohmar as they ran towards the dig site. There was quite a commotion when they arrived at the hole and many voices echoed around so loud and fast that even Pflarrian was having trouble understanding them. For a few moments he tried in vain to bring some order into the chaos before a loud roar drowned out every other noise. Mike jumped in shock and Maxx spun around, his paws automatically moving towards his whip and pistol.
It had been Ohmar’s roar and the result was exactly what the lion had intended: Silence. The following minutes were a blur of shouted order and movement but eventually Maxx, Mike, Pfarrian and Ohmar were back in the tent, a tattered, sandy bag lying before them on the table. Maxx was bent over it, carefully brushing it clean with a small brush. Occasially he dribbled some alcohol on it to loosen the crust of sand that had built up on the leather while the others watched with barely suppressed impatience. Eventually the feline sat up straight again and presented the bag to Mike.
It was a slim leather bag, of the kind the people used to carry documents and similar things. The leather was dry and cracked due to the years it had been buried in the desert, but thanks to Maxx’s experienced paws it was looking surprisingly well, considering what it had been through. The metal of the clasp that held it shut was dulled and scratched but Mike could still make out the monogram engraved into it, the letters MJR.
The raccoon nodded. “This was my father’s.”
End of Chapter 5
On to chapter 6 (coming soon)
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