The luxor curse, p.27
The Luxor Curse, page 27
part #1 of Kathryn Black Series
“Do not be dejected, Alex, as you can’t always be correct, you are a boy after all,” said Kate in a playful tone and with a wink.
“Hold on, Kate, as that was just a test, as now I will tell you my real conclusions.” He actually had no idea what he was going to say, but there was no way he was going to end on a failure. In order to get the time he needed to gather his thoughts, he asked Kate what she thought had happened over this period. She saw through Alex’s deflection and put the question right back at him, demanding his ‘real’ answer right now. He started with what he knew, or thought he knew, and watched Thoth’s face for any signs that may help him along. “Neither Tausert or Setnakht were in line to be pharaoh,” said Alex. Thoth’s face did not give any sign that he was either correct or incorrect, which Alex took as a good sign. At least he was not shaking his head. “They were given the position as a reward for their services.” Alex was sure that he noticed a slight nod from Thoth. Kate must have noticed it as well, because she put her hand on his shoulder as a sign of support. “The shabtis themselves were not important,” and he was going on to say ‘once the pharaoh had died’, though from the immediate change on Thoth’s face he knew that he was going off track. Sobek spoke for the first time. “And you think that we will win this time, Thoth … hah … poppycock.”
Alex did not know where the voice came from inside his head, because if he had given it a moment’s thought he would have said nothing, especially to Sobek with all those teeth, but it was out. “If you keep interrupting me, Sobek, I will never finish, so please be quiet.” Alex at least had the good sense to put a please in there. He immediately continued, even though he did not know what he was going to say, yet the words kept rolling from his tongue as though they were thoughts he had always had. “The shabtis themselves were not important, once the person they represented had died and reached the afterlife. If they were broken then, so what, the person had already used his shabti’s power to guide his way back to his pharaoh, and anyway, however well-guarded they were, they would disappear, should that person’s name be removed in the afterlife.
“The crucial time for the shabtis was before the person they represented had died, before the vital people were dead, so it was of paramount importance that they were safeguarded, as if broken before death, their power, and therefore their link to their pharaoh, had gone. They were then just as useless as a broken water pot. Even though these were created using old magic, the link to the afterlife had to be through the pharaoh. It was not with the warlock who created them, though he would certainly use these people in the afterlife, just as he did in life. A virtually unaltered existence, once everybody connected to the special shabtis had died, which in this case was over a period of twenty-seven years.”
Alex had obviously nailed it, as Thoth was so excited that he was already talking away to his pharaoh. There was a round of clapping from all assembled, except for Sobek, who, much to Alex’s surprise, took the ibis beak from his mouth and, using both hands, gave Alex a double thumbs-up. Kate leant over and hugged Alex. It was a great day for him, but what of Kate’s timeline problem. As things started to calm down, Kate’s thoughts also went back to the timeline, as it was the one thing left to solve before they could start planning tomorrow. She asked Thoth where the missing pharaoh fitted in. She was pretty confident that it was either just before or just after Merenptah, and that is what she relayed to Thoth. It was no surprise that he failed to answer a direct question, though Kate was not expecting him to ask for her reasoning behind this assumption.
“Okay, Thoth, I shall tell you,” said Kate. Several of the ancients, who had headed back into the bas-reliefs on the walls around them, stopped and came back to listen. “Well, once I knew for certain that there was this missing pharaoh,” she did not want to mention Nakhtifi by name, unless she really had to, “I worked out that he must have been pharaoh for just a few months directly after Ramses II died, as he was the chosen one. This felt so right. The trouble is that it cannot be, as his soldiers couldn’t get through the false door into the tomb of Keydora, when by that time her tomb must have already been robbed. Merenptah’s soldiers could, so logic would dictate that Merenptah followed Ramses as pharaoh. If that is the case, I really don’t know where our missing pharaoh fits in.” She was still being very careful not to mention Nakhtifi by name.
Thoth looked thoughtful as he stared at Kate.
Alex was watching Sobek, who after drawing a finger across his throat made a small rocking motion of his hand with thumb and little finger sticking out. It was enough for Alex to fall in, immediately realising that there must have been very bloody battles for power upon the death of Ramses which lead to most of Nakhtifi’s soldiers being killed before Keydora’s tomb was robbed, thereby not giving him enough power to hold on to being pharaoh until Merenptah died. “There were seven changes of ruler in Egypt during that twenty-seven-year period, Kate, but only six pharaohs.” It went beyond a few claps, as there were now bird calls and appreciative growls. Even Sobek was excited and made a snapping noise with his massive jaw.
Kate could not fail to realise that Alex was correct, but in the hubbub she could not quite see what Alex had just worked out.
Alex had to raise his voice to be heard. “You were correct, Kate, as he was pharaoh for a few months before Merenptah but he was also pharaoh for a few months after Merenptah died,” with a definite emphasis on the ‘but’.
Chapter 20
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Revisiting the Tomb of Montuemhat
Kate was unable to sleep as her brain worked overtime. She was trying to work out where Alex fitted in, as well as why, according to Bast, he had failed to see. What was more to the point, and the question which Kate kept asking over and over in her thoughts, was what there was for him to see. It was all such a worry to her. It had also not been a great evening after they had arrived back at the Winter Palace, quite a bit later than they had planned, as they arrived in the middle of a row.
Alex’s parents had been in the bar with Aggie, having already settled into their new room. Previously, Kate had thought that once they were all together at the Winter Palace it would be easier for her and Alex to talk. Far from it. Wherever they sat, either Aggie, Quentin or Babs would come over and sit with them. It was like musical chairs, as obviously Babs and Quentin had had a disagreement, so when Quentin sat with them and Babs came over, he left, and vice versa. Aggie was missing her drinking expat ‘friends’, as she felt that she had to stay and sort things out. In truth, Aggie was like a lit match between two cans of petrol, with neither Babs nor Quentin wanting to get too close to her, just in case she turned a simmering fire into a full-blown explosion. In the end, Aggie had been unable to hold out any longer, so she had left for The Gardens, in order to get more gossip. Once she had gone, Quentin and Babs sat together, apologising to each other, whilst giggling as if they had been two runaway lovers.
They were in the bar, so Kate, Alex and Cairo had moved to the lounge, so that they could discuss tomorrow. Already having apologised to Cairo several times for not being able to take him with them to Medinet Habu, they stressed that it had been completely out of their control, and explained in some detail all that had occurred. Having talked to his ancestor the day before, he believed their story this time. No longer did he believe it to be a fantasy from the overactive minds of teenagers.
The problem was, that after Kate and Alex had told him everything, that was it, total silence, nothing, zero, zilch. Nobody had any clue as to what they should do tomorrow. Of course they all knew that they had to get into Montuemhat’s tomb, which posed no problem at all, as they had left themselves a way in. They also knew that they had to get down the deep shaft. This was a little more problematic, but involved no more planning than deciding to take several sheets each and tie them together. It was what they did after that, that was the problem. They had all thought the same, and had looked as blank as each other. What they did decide was that they would meet up for an early breakfast, as they had the all clear to go out together.
Quentin was again going off to check over his prospective dig, whilst Aggie and Babs were supposed to be meeting beside the pool before a shopping trip later in the day. The way they had downed the gin, neither Kate nor Alex expected either of them to be in any fit state to leave the hotel. Babs seldom touched alcohol when she was home. Alex did not like the change that drinking with Aggie had brought over her, though for now it served their purpose.
Three had been unable to contain his excitement about Cairo having spoken to an ancestor, so he had been happy to agree to anything, as this was now also Cairo’s adventure. This was his journey into manhood, and though not without risk, Three knew this was something that Cairo just had to undertake, as so few ever saw, and even less were ever in a position to be able to speak to the past in order to guard the future. Having failed to have come up with a master plan, Kate suggested they should all get a good night’s sleep so that they would be refreshed for tomorrow, and as nobody objected, that is what they did.
The lack of a plan was also why Kate could not sleep. Her mind was far too active. She had had to give up on attempting to formulate any sort of a plan a short while ago, when Aggie had arrived back and slammed the room door. It had then sounded as though she had crashed through her bedroom door, rather than opening it, before collapsing onto her bed. Her snoring had started almost immediately. She had obviously passed out, but her snoring was so loud, so protracted, that even surrounded by the solid walls of the Winter Palace, rational thought became impossible. Thoughts of pillows and murder raced to the forefront of Kate’s mind.
Kate, rather involuntarily, went back to thinking of Alex, of where he fitted in, and why he could not see who he was. She became aware that Aggie’s snoring, though still there, had dropped down a notch or two. It was this which had allowed her brain to re-engage. Now deep in thought, she was jolted by the ring of the bedroom phone. Diving to answer it whilst looking at her watch, which said ten to two, she wondered what emergency could necessitate someone calling at this unearthly hour. She was just about to bark down the phone, when she heard, “Kate, is that you?” coming as a whisper from the receiver. “Yes, Alex, it is, but if you have disturbed Aggie and started her snoring again, I will do something really nasty to you later today.” She had barely got the sentence out when she heard, “Shut up for once, and listen,” and in shock as much as surprise, she did just that. “You know the painting of Luxor Temple by whatsit, you know, that Scottish painter?”
“David Roberts.”
“Yes, him. The one you said was taken from you by that female ancient.”
“Well, it was taken by her, but it was a clue left for me.”
“Okay, I understand that, but what happened when you looked at the David Roberts books afterwards?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing!”
“That’s not true, is it.”
“Flipping is! Nothing, except the same useless picture in every book.”
This was too important to argue over, so Alex just said, “So nothing un-nerved you then?”
“Of course it flipping did, as the same picture was on page twenty-seven of three different books.”
“And how many years were there between Ramses II and Ramses III?”
“Twenty-seven!” said Kate instantly, though even she could see that this was very strange and most unlikely to be a coincidence.
“Have you looked at page twenty-seven of your book?”
The phone went dead, which was no more than Alex had expected, so he lay back on his bed and waited, as he knew his phone would ring eventually. He was no different to Kate tonight, as his over active mind had also denied him sleep. Now, as he waited for Kate to call back, he had turned to thinking about what his role was in all of this.
Kate eventually opened her book to page twenty-seven, as in her haste she had managed to miss it several times, prior to turning the main bedroom light on. Her bed-side light failed to make the page numbers clear to bleary eyes at two in the morning. There was a picture of a carving of Thoth, which it said in small, though bold letters, was from Medinet Habu. This reached from the top to the bottom of the right-hand side of the page, with Toth’s quill extending into the writing. Kate read the complete page so quickly that she failed to take it in, so she read it again more slowly, and then called Alex’s room. Mohammed on reception was unwilling to put the call through at this time in the morning, but on having his future carefully explained to him by Kate, or rather his lack of a future, he connected her to Alex’s room with apologies for the delay.
“We are definitely going to the right tomb, Alex.”
“What does it say on the page?” Alex asked in exasperation.
“It’s all about Thoth, his writings, and ancient Egyptian love of stories. Apparently Thoth is also a great storyteller. Where his quill points to on the page it tells the story of an ancient love, though one which is a mystery, as the cartouches and therefore the names of the people concerned have been defaced. Nobody knows who the story is about.”
“Yes, but what does it say?”
“Well, not that much really, as it doesn’t go into detail. It tells of a dancer of Amun, who was loved by two pharaohs during a turbulent time in ancient Egyptian history. The story is incomplete, and for such a quality reference book it fails to say which tomb the story is from. It covers love, betrayal, the hatred that somebody must have had to remove the names and has Thoth, the scribe, as the storyteller. It finishes by saying that there is so much we do not know about ancient Egypt, and that for the archaeologists concerned it’s the equivalent of having a ten-million-piece jigsaw puzzle with no reference picture to work to.”
“Well, anyway Kate, it certainly does sound like it could be a clue, and the dancer of Amun appears to be a major part of it.” Alex then added, “Whatever a dancer of Amun is, but I know that I have either heard of or read that phrase before … somewhere.”
“Oh, it’s definitely a clue. I am furious that there’s no reference to which tomb this is in. We know that for a name to be inside a cartouche, it has to be a pharaoh or pharaohs who are in the story.”
“Wow, you really are becoming the Egyptologist!”
“Brilliant book, Alex, tells you all that you could ever want to know, which is why it’s all the more disappointing that it gives no reference as to where we can find this story.” Kate pondered for a moment. “I initially thought that it must be on a tomb wall, but it could just as easily be on a temple wall. Any wall in fact, as it could be in a noble’s tomb, a pharaoh’s tomb or any temple and not necessarily in Luxor. So, without a reference source it would be impossible to find. Would your dad know?”
“It may also be on a papyrus. I will ask him at breakfast, though I don’t hold out much hope of him knowing, as he specialises in ancient Egypt under Greek rule and the Cleopatras, all flipping seven of them.”
“You will never know, Alex, until you ask.”
“I will ask, but trust me, if he knew that story from ancient Egypt, then he would have told it a million times, just like he has told all his other stories, and some way or another he would have been the hero.” Alex gave a rather exaggerated yawn, and then pre-empted Kate’s next question. “Yes, do not worry, I will ask at breakfast.”
“See you at breakfast, Alex.”
“Yes, night, Kate.”
Kate and Alex were in separate rooms on different floors of the Winter Palace, but they were both thinking the same thing … what didn’t Alex see? Eventually they both drifted off to sleep without being any closer to an answer.
Breakfast, Corniche, ferry, taxi, it was like a military exercise, but Kate, Alex and Cairo found themselves where they wanted to be, back at the entrance to the car park at Hatshepsut Temple, and it was still before ten in the morning, so they had a full day ahead of them. Not a day that any of them were looking forward to, but a day which they had to endure in order to get to the truth, to reach their destiny, the end of their adventure or whatever way you wished to look at it.
This time they told the taxi driver not to wait, before heading out across the white desert on foot, only to be called back by a couple of Tourist and Antiquities Police. Alex thought that he was ready for them, so he said quietly that he would deal with this. The police made it clear that they were going nowhere except Hatshepsut Temple. “Look,” said Alex after reading the sign beside them, “we are going to the Assasif tombs.” The younger of the two policemen said in broken, though reasonable English, that they were going nowhere without a ticket, and those had to be purchased from the ticket office at the very far end of the car park. Looking over, the ticket office was a long way from where they were, and the thought of having to tackle the gauntlet of very pushy stall holders for a second time, did not appeal, not even Cairo. Thinking quickly, Alex said that their parents were already down at the tombs, and they had their tickets. The policeman, thinking just as quickly, told Alex that there was nobody in the Assasif tombs, as the gaffir of the tombs was sleeping just over there. He pointed to a little mud hut with a man asleep on a wooden bench outside, under a makeshift canopy.
Kate took a step forward. “Leave this to me, boys,” she said with a knowing air. After taking the younger policeman to one side for a few moments, she returned. “Come along, boys,” and there they were, yet again following Kate, as they walked across the white stone and sand that covered this area.
“How do you do it, Kate?” asked Alex in utter amazement, when they finally caught up with her.
“That’s for me to know and you to learn from, Alex. What is the saying now, I can’t quite remember. It goes something like girls rule and boys …” She held the pause there and giggled.
