Aboard the air craft carrier “Daveli”, pilots of the Air Fleet were at their gruelling exercises. Lieutenant Janno has just landed! Hold him there! A grave faced officer approached Janno’s craft. That’s the last craft you’ll fly in the forseeable future, Lieutenant! Orders from the Emperor—you’re to cease all duties and be returned to Trigan City! But why . . . why? I understand that your father, the Lord Brag, has had some kind of . . . accident! Accident? You mean . . . he’s? . . . Brag was not dead. In a special laboratory, the Emperor’s stricken brother lay in a state of suspended animation. As, later, Peric was to explain to Janno . . . Your father’s injuries are of such a dreadful nature as to defy all medical knowledge. All we can do is to submerge him in a saline solution—and simply await the healing hand of nature. It sounds—a very thin hope. The Emperor showed the strain of his beloved brother’s plight. The matter of the Mummy’s Curse must now be taken seriously. From now on, Lieutenant Sweya of the Imperial Guard will be your constant companion, and will watch over you, day and night. Janno shuddered. The dread Curse of King Yutta seemed very close at hand. In a manner of speaking, you and Sweya are brothers in adversity. My—my father was councillor Rothi, who has already been destroyed by the curse! Oh! I’m very sorry, Sweya.And so, day and night, Lieutenant Sweya guarded the life of the Emperor’s nephew. Can’t I even go in for a swim? No! Remember what happened to Obolom! Sweya was stern and inflexible. Just a short ride in my new racer? Remember what happened to Ricci—he went for a short ride, and ended up in his family tomb! The two young officers were quartered in a suite of rooms in the Imperial Palace. One night, as Janno was about to retire . . . Is that you, Sweya? Suddenly . . . it happened! Aaaaaah! Janno! What is it? Why did you call out? Where did he go? The demon who threw the axe at me! They searched the suite. There was no one else there! Someone was here! Someone of flesh and blood! Someone with enough hatred to want to make an end of me! Aaaaah! By all the stars! Look down here, Janno! Janno peered down into a shadowy courtyard—in time to see a strange figure flit from sight. Oh no! It’s—the Mummy of King Yutta!
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 564 on 4 November 1972.
