SECRET OF THE SANDS

PROLOGUE
CIRCA 10,000 B.C.

STRANGLED shouts echoed throughout the temple as torchlight flickered outside the entrance. Several battle-hardened soldiers pounded on the door, trying to force their way in.

Inside the temple, breathless and frightened, two young priests desperately tried to bar the door. Three other priests raced to the back of the temple to an inner sanctuary. Their long black hair was in tight braids, and they wore long, flowing, white robes and dark brown leather sandals. Their skin had a beautiful golden sheen to it. Around each of their necks hung an amulet in the shape of an ankh, with a glittering stone in the center of it.

One of the priests was carrying a book of scrolls, held tightly to his chest. Inside the small room stood a wooden altar with low benches in front of it. The chamber walls were decorated with paintings of sacred scenes, ceremonies and images of worship. The priests moved the benches aside, frantically working to uncover a well-hidden trap door.

One of the priests whispered, “There is no way out from here, we must do something!” The language they spoke was an ancient one.

“We have no chance to escape,” another said, “but I must hide the book in the chest below. It must be protected. You have to keep them out long enough!”

The three of them finally managed to open the trap door, which revealed a steep set of stairs leading down a dank, dark passageway carved from the earth.

“I will be right back!” he said.

With scrolls in hand, he raced down the crude earthen stairway. At the foot of the stairway was a stone chest with a beautiful, large, intricately detailed ankh carved into its lid.

The priest opened the chest and withdrew one of two protective jeweled cylinders in which he placed the book of scrolls and sealed it tightly. He ran his finger reverently over the smooth carven ankh on its lid, invoking a silent prayer that the secret and powerful knowledge contained within would somehow remain safe.

Time was running out. The intruders were breaking through the door. In desperation, the priests above the secret passageway slammed the trap door closed, shutting their companion in below. Quickly, the priests concealed the trap door and placed the benches back over it.

They heard the clanking of steel and menacing voices shouting. They knew their enemies were coming through. Bravely they stood to face the onslaught of soldiers who were now merely seconds behind them.

As the first soldier burst into the temple, one of the priests hit him on the back of the head with a staff, knocking him unconscious. A second soldier was struck in the face with a torch and fell screaming in agony to the ground.

One of the priests reached into a pocket of his robe and grabbed a small pouch. From it he took some powder and tossed it into the face of the next soldier who came through the door.
The man grasped his throat, his eyes burning, struggling for breath. The fine powder, working quickly, seared his vocal cords, his lungs. His death would be a silent one. The powder, lethal when inhaled, choked the last remaining breaths out of him. He fell to the ground at their feet, his eyes frozen wide in disbelief.

Still more soldiers rushed into the room. The priests fought valiantly but they were no match for the merciless and vicious soldiers, in number or sheer brutality. The two priests who had initially tried to hold the doors were savagely stabbed in the stomach, dark red blood staining their once-pristine white robes. They collapsed to the ground, succumbing to the fatal wounds.

One of the younger priests, witnessing his companions brutally slain before his eyes, screamed with anguish and raced forward to avenge their deaths. From the lifeless hands of one of the soldiers he grabbed a sword and lunged at the attackers, striking a blow on one of the soldier’s hands.

The man cried out in pain. Injured and filled with rage, the soldier struck back, driving his blade into the young priest’s chest. The soldier smiled malevolently as the young man dropped to his knees and looked down to see the hilt of the sword protruding from his chest.

Struggling for breath, his eyes disbelieving what his body could not deny, he fell to the ground. As he lay dying at the soldier’s feet, a single tear fell glistening down his cheek.

Suddenly, a blinding blue light shone through into the temple from somewhere outside, disintegrating nearly everything in its path. A low rumble followed then grew in intensity. A massive explosion shook the very ground. Deafening sounds, thunderous, ensued as wood and stone were blasted into pieces. Fire and intense heat tore through the temple collapsing the ceiling, trapping and crushing everyone inside. All was left in ruins.

Back in the cellar, the lone priest, in fear and confusion, heard the terrifying explosion. Then a deadly silence…