Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, Kate stood in a small rectangular chamber with a curved ceiling that was only a few centimetres above her head.
Alex also stood upright, though he still had one step to go. His head collided with the low entrance.
“Now, now, Alex, don’t damage the tomb. It would be nice if it was still here for your children and grandchildren to see,” said Kate, struggling not to laugh.
“Very funny,” he replied, now crouched on the floor with both hands on his head.
“Just in case you hadn’t noticed you are already in the chamber, so it’s a little late to duck now.” Kate failed in her struggle not to laugh out loud.
Alex suddenly dashed back up the steps shouting, “Stop!”
Stooping, so that she could see up the stairs, Kate saw Alex holding onto the now closed, and presumably locked, metal security gate. He was shouting through the bars to someone, anyone, though as he was shouting up and out of the tomb, she was unable to make out what he was saying. What she did hear, however, was a voice which came down the stairs. “I am sorry, Prince Alex, but these are my orders.” Alex shouted again, though this time there was no reply.
He came back down to join Kate, ensuring this time he was much more careful before he stood up straight.
“It’s an attractive tomb,” she said as she looked up at the ceiling which had been split into painted panels, each with its own design. It was the panel of intricate bulls’ heads, staring straight down at them, which caught her eye. Painted quite small in a geometric pattern, each of the fifty-two heads was slightly different. One for each week of the year, she wondered.
“Did you not see that we have been locked in?” said Alex in more than a little panic.
“Yes, but he called you Prince Alex.”
“Oh great, that makes it alright then,” he said still in panic. After pausing to collect his thoughts, whilst watching Kate admire the ceiling paintings, he considered how much she had changed. Less than two weeks ago the roles would have been reversed. She would have been the one panicking. As he thought this, his eyes were drawn to steps down at the far end of the chamber. On inspection, he found that these lead through an archway to a second chamber, which was at a right angle to the one he was in. “It might be an attractive tomb,” he said as looked back at Kate, “though I do not wish to take up residence.”
“Oh, my Prince, you have come back to save me from being locked in this tower by my evil grandmother?”
Alex was at a loss for words. He wondered if he was the only one who really understood the possible repercussions of being locked in a tomb, when the warlock wanted them dead, let alone being locked in before they had had the time to tell anyone what they had discovered. Plunged into darkness, he felt Kate grab him with both hands, or at least he hoped it was her.
She spoke, which reassured him, though she was no longer calm. “What the hell is going on?”
Funnily enough, Kate in total panic allowed Alex to relax somewhat. “Could it be that a trouble shared is a trouble halved?” he thought as he held Kate closer to him. They hugged, as well as shook a little.
Kate tried to call out for Cairo, but it came out like the squeak of a mouse.
Alex also tried to call out for Cairo. He did not do much better.
A voice emanated from just behind them, though not one they had ever heard before. “Bast may be a free spirit, though she is a fiercely loyal free spirit. You worry about her loyalty, yet you freely, and stupidly in my opinion, follow a young Egyptian boy into a tomb where you are now locked in. Do you not see how vulnerable you are?”
“We are not vulnerable, as you put it,” said Kate, finding her voice as well as filling it with anger, “because Cairo is a true friend. He would never lead us into harm’s way.”
“Well, Princess Kate, you sound much more confident about Cairo than Prince Alex, whose silence on this subject speaks volumes.”
“It doesn’t,” said Alex. “I trust Cairo totally, though I do believe that he could be manipulated.”
“Such a long word to use before you die.”
Kate was suddenly pushed to one side. In total darkness Alex lunged forward to where the voice had come from giving his best right hook.
“Cairo, Cairo, lights quickly, I think he has broken my nose.” Suddenly torches, which had not been there previously, burst into flame on the walls, filling the entire tomb with yellow flickering light. Kate was on the floor rubbing her head from where it had hit the wall as Alex had pushed her away. Alex had his eyes screwed up from pain as he held his right hand under his left armpit. He had obviously inflicted an injury on whoever was threatening them, but his right hook had travelled on, causing his hand to impact with the tomb wall not only at great speed but also with great force.
A man sat on the floor holding his nose with both hands. His black, curly, and extremely course looking wig had slipped to one side, revealing either a bald or a shaved head.
“You must trust Bast,” said Cairo, now standing by the entrance to the next chamber, “and I show you why.” From the moaning, the pain, and the confusion, nobody took in what Cairo had to say. Alex, despite his sore hand, went to grab the Egyptian in the white galabeya.
This time everyone took notice of Cairo, as he bellowed, “STOP!” Despite standing perfectly still, he appeared to be moving slightly in many directions as the torches on the walls flickered. “This Inky, he a friend.”
“Well, your friend said that he was going to kill us.”
“No,” said Inky through a misshapen blocked nose. “I said that you were going to die, which is quite different.”
“Whichever way you meant it, we are still dead,” said Kate.
“I just wanted to be the evil villain. I have always wanted to be the evil villain ever since Cairo and I watched all those American movies together.”
“What’s going on, Cairo?” asked Kate with her hands on her hips as if to say ‘do not mess with me’.
“I need you know why Bast could not come and help. You need understand. Come through here and sit down.” Cairo pointed into the other chamber.
Into the chamber they went, though not before Kate had got hold of Alex and spun him around, to see a painting on the wall. It was in an alcove to the left of them as they had entered the tomb. There was ‘Inky’ painted just as he looked now, with what must have been his wife depicted sitting behind him.
“Inky must be Inherkhau,” said Kate, “so how could he watch television with Cairo at the Winter Palace as he is an ancient? We need to be very careful.”
“Isn’t it strange,” he thought, “now I am not worried, you are. Perhaps one of us should always be worried, if we are to remain safe.”
They stepped down into a highly-decorated chamber which was only marginally larger than the one they had just left. Without being asked, they sat on the floor around a large silver tray which contained five empty glasses. Someone else was obviously going to join them.
“The last time I visited this tomb,” said Alex, “there were dirty glass panels all around this whatever.”
“We call it an annex, as it is the annex to my actual burial chamber.” They looked at Inky. His nose was no longer either misshapen or blocked. “Oh, do not worry,” he said, seeing them all staring. “You can hurt us ancients, and oh, did it hurt, but not for long, unless you completely remove our name.”
This they knew only too well, after the events of last week, that if every mention of an ancient’s name was removed, then they failed to exist in the afterlife. It was, however, impossible to remove any pharaoh, many nobles and even a well-known worker such as Inherkhau, permanently from the afterlife, as there were far too many references to them. Pharaoh Nakhtifi, being unknown, could all too easy be removed from the afterlife.
They were brought back to the here and now when they heard a call of, “Tamar-hindi anyone?” It was the lady in the wall painting, obviously Inky’s favourite wife.
Alex held Kate
’s glass up, and then his own, as the lady filled them. “You were going to tell us something, Cairo?” asked Alex before he took a sip of a most excellent tamar-hindi.
“I not know where to start.”
Kate thought she would help. “Glass, Bast and how do we get out of here.” Cairo started to speak just as Kate thought of another question. “How come you are so knowledgeable all of a sudden, and whilst I am asking questions, how does an ancient get into a modern room in the Winter Palace to watch TV with you?”
Cairo looked back at Kate. He said nothing. It was obvious that he was confused by so many questions in quick succession.
Alex came to his rescue. “Okay, Cairo, answer one question at a time. The first question is, where has all the glass gone?” This was the least relevant question, but Alex decided to ask them in the same order as Kate had. This turned out to be a bad idea, as neither Cairo nor Inky knew why this occurred every evening once the tomb was locked. It just did.
“Right,” said Alex, “let’s try the second question, in the hope that we obtain a better answer. Bast?”
“Oh yes, Mister Alex, I can answer this. It came to me today. Papa told me many stories when I was very small, and I think these are bedtime stories, but now I know they not.”
“Not what, Cairo?” asked Alex, as he put a hand on Kate’s knee. He was concerned that if she spoke, she might lose it.
“I understand now. Papa not tell me stories, he prepare me for now, for when I speak to ancients. When I saw Meretseger, I knew who she was from his stories.”
“Sorry, Cairo,” interjected Alex with an even firmer hand on Kate’s knee, “but where did we meet Meretseger?”
“The cobra, Mister Alex. Meretseger is the snake, she an ancient god.” Inky and his wife were both nodding. This had obviously grabbed Kate’s interest, as she was now off the boil and eager to hear more. “Papa told me a story of a snake that lives in the Theban Hills, to guard them from bad people. It great story, and he told it many times. Now I understand it was more than story. It true. He prepare me to know what I would have to face if I see. This why Bast cannot come into this area. She and Meretseger are sworn enemies.”
“Why, Cairo, what did they do to each other?”
“Oh no, Mister Alex, it not them, it all cats and snakes which are enemies. This why I brought you here, as wanted you to see this.” Cairo stood. He was now pointing at a painting on the wall. It depicted a snake that was coming out of an ished tree, only to have a cat put its front paw on its head. This had caused the snake’s forked tongue to come out and its eyes to bulge.
Kate thought, from where she sat, that the cat was killing the snake with a leaf. It must, however, have been a knife, as the artist had painted blood flowing freely from an obviously fatal wound.
Alex now stood. He wanted to have a closer look. “But this is a rabbit, Cairo, not a cat. Just look at those ears!”
Kate on closer inspection agreed with him, though she still thought that the knife looked more like a leaf.
Cairo pointed out the long tail wrapped around its hind legs. “See, that a cat, Mister Alex.”
“You are both right, yet at the same time you are both wrong,” said Inky. “Yes, Cairo, your dad would have told you stories to prepare you if you ‘saw’. We are all very pleased that you have. Every parent hopes that by telling children these stories they will be protecting them. It was the same in my, sorry my dear, our time. Come, sit, and I will tell you the story of this picture.”
They sat as their glasses were topped up with tamar-hindi. Alex took his phone out to check the time. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that they still had just over an hour before they were supposed to meet Aggie, as well as his mum and dad. He wondered if they could get through the story, find out how to get out of here and get back to the Winter Palace, without being too late. He was not too concerned about his parents, but Kate being late to meet Aggie, after yesterday, was completely another matter.
“Meretseger,” said Inky, after which he left a pause long enough to get everyone’s attention. “Meretseger is an ancient god who appears in the form of a cobra. Known as ‘the one who loves silence’ she has, for thousands of years, guarded these Theban Hills. We residents appreciate all she does,” he said pointing to himself and then to his wife, who nodded in agreement. “Though bad people, such as your warlock, most definitely do not. To be truthful, he never has done, and that is why Bast cannot come freely into these hills.”
“You lost me there, Inky,” said Kate, wiggling her index finger around, as if to say that even though her brain was working, she had completely failed to make the connection.
“I shall get there, Princess Kate, then you will all understand,” said Inky with a smile. “Meretseger, though female, has a larger and more colourful hood than any male cobra. She is also somewhat larger than even the largest male cobra, as you may have noticed.”
Alex and Cairo both nodded.
“She is an ancient god, though she is the only one of her kind, as she belongs to no individual pharaoh.” Inky swivelled around. He stabbed his finger on the tomb wall in anger. “This is neither a cat nor a rabbit, it is ancient magic … it is the warlock. He turned himself into a cat, but did not get the ancient spell quite right, as you can see.”
“Why a cat?” asked Kate.
“Because at that time cats and snakes did not fear each other, they were friends. Cobras only ever wanted to use their venom on animals they could eat. Cats were far too large for them. As cobras and cats had a very similar diet, they often worked together to find food, especially in times of famine. It had worked like this for countless centuries. However, this particular warlock, the warlock who is still causing you great problems right now, wanted the power to do whatever he wanted in the Theban Hills. Meretseger blocked him at every step. The warlock’s ancient magic was, and is to this day, very powerful. He used it to good effect, as he was able to control many ancient gods, however, his magic did not work on Meretseger. This left him with no option in his sick mind. He had to kill her.
“Why could he control other gods but not Mer … Mer?” said Kate, stammering over the pronunciation of the cobra’s name.
“Well, just as long as you do not tell Ramses the Great.” Inky made a mock spit to show his dislike. After they had mumbled and gestured that they would not, he continued. “I shall tell you then. Pharaohs are weak minded and can be manipulated easily. Praise their ego, and they are like putty in your hands. How do you think us workers achieved all that we did? We all played to our pharaoh’s ego, or in my case, several pharaohs’ egos, as I had to put up with the tantrums of Ramses four, five, six and seven, but that is another story.” It was obvious that Cairo was absolutely bursting to ask something, so Inky motioned for him to speak.
“Could Mrs Inky make some sandwiches?” Cairo blurted out. They all laughed. Kate gave him a friendly slap on the arm.
“I have never in all these years been called Mrs Inky, it sounds quite nice. Of course, I shall go and make some sandwiches for you all.” Standing up, she walked to the corner of the tomb before disappearing through a door that was not there. Kate and Alex shared a look which said, ‘that could be our way out’.
“What’s your wife’s name?” asked Kate.
Inky looked puzzled before he said, “She is usually called wife number one, though if she annoys me, she can be wife number two, three or four. On our worst days she is known as wife living with her mother. Now where was I?”
“Egos,” said Kate.
“Ah yes, egos. Well to cut a long story short, because you must all know by now, the pharaohs created the gods they needed. These gods reflected the good or bad of their pharaoh.” There were nods all around. “Well then, if you are a nasty warlock, this makes things very easy. Simply by controlling the weak mind of the pharaoh, you control all of his gods. Meretseger has no pharaoh, so it was, and still is for that matter, impossible for the warlock to control her.”
Thi
s time there were nods of understanding from Kate and Alex. Cairo, however, was far too focussed on food to take anything in. His little eyes widened as he saw Mrs Inky come back through the tomb wall, carrying a tray that was brimming with very chunky sandwiches. Even though they were offered to Kate first, somehow Cairo was already munching away on one.
She picked out the smallest she could find.
Alex took the one on top.
Cairo was now munching away on his second, with two spare sandwiches sitting in his lap. The way he was getting through them, nobody expected the spare sandwiches to be there for long.
Alex, having lost his new book on the tombs and temples, pulled out of his backpack the small guide he had previously used. He read that this cat, rabbit or warlock picture, was regarded as a famous scene which depicted the ‘cat of Heliopolis’ killing the snake, Apophis, who was the mortal enemy of the sun god. He relayed this information, only to be immediately shot down in flames by Inky.
“What utter rubbish, it is my tomb, do you not think that I know what is painted on the walls of my own tomb?”
Nobody felt that they could disagree. Alex looked at his mobile again. He expressed his concern that they must be back at the Winter Palace very soon. Inky offered to give them a very quick outline of the story if they kept quiet and listened. They said that they would. Whilst eating sandwiches and drinking tamar-hindi, keeping quiet did not prove to be difficult.
Death in Luxor Page 11