The Tomb Builders

by Kevin Ashman

  ‘Attos,’ he said quietly, ‘you will be truly blessed for fulfilling your vow.’

  ‘We are an honourable people,’ said Attos without looking at him, ‘and are not known for failing in our commitments.’

  ‘Then there is nothing left to hold us back,’ said Haji, ‘cast away your anchors, Attos and do what it is you do.’

  ----

  Chapter Twenty

  Egypt

  2014

  India sat in the empty room of the village house, waiting for the return of Brandon and Tarik. Though she tried, sleep would not come so she pored over the map of Egypt, trying to guess where Khufu’s final resting place could be, or at least where to find the next glyph. Finally she heard the sound of the door opening and she stood up as the two men entered.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘did you get the bearings?’

  ‘We did,’ said Brandon, ‘and Tarik has applied the calculations to backdate them to Khufu’s time.’

  ‘I’ve got the map ready,’ said India walking to the table, ‘and some navigational instruments.’ She placed a compass, a protractor and a ruler on the table. They each pulled up a seat as Tarik retrieved his notebook.

  ‘Right,’ he said, ‘according to my calculations the position of the stars during Khufu’s time indicate they had been taken from the north face of the pyramid and the first line heads off in a direction of approximately 18 degrees magnetic.’

  India placed the compass on the map with one corner sitting on the location of Khufu’s pyramid, and after rotating the instrument to reflect the bearing. Used the ruler to draw a straight line along the indicated direction.

  ‘Right,’ said Tarik, ‘let’s take a look.’

  ‘Nothing,’ said Brandon after a minute or so.

  ‘Hmm, very strange,’ said Tarik, ‘at the very least there should be a landmark or geological feature. Check the disc again and see if there is any sign of a distance.’

  ‘Nope,’ said Brandon again, ‘nothing.’

  ‘That doesn’t make sense,’ said Tarik, ‘these things were made deliberately vague as the gods would know what they referred to but there would always be a feature whenever the direction changed.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said India, ‘perhaps we are being too conservative.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘We have assumed the location is within the boundaries of Egypt. Perhaps Khufu had greater ambitions and saw his final resting place beyond the borders of his kingdom.’

  ‘I wouldn’t think so,’ said Tarik, ‘but it’s worth a look.’ He pulled out a second map of the greater Mediterranean region. India repeated the process with the compass though this time using Cairo as a starting point. She drew in the line and they all stared down in surprise as the line passed through the centre of the island of Crete. What’s more, it bisected a dotted circle near the edge of the island.

  Brandon looked up.

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘is that feasible?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Tarik, ‘what ancient structures are there on Crete that pre date the time of Khufu?’

  ‘Well first of all Crete wasn’t called Crete at the time,’ said India, ‘it was known as Keftiu and they worshipped Demeter, the great Earth mother. Is there anything there to her memory, perhaps a temple or something?’

  ‘There is,’ said Tarik, ‘a large stone circle that is reputed to have been built by her hand. It’s a long shot but if it turns out to be correct, then the next line on the disc, when originating on that stone circle should run through another Geoglyph. What’s the angle?’

  Brandon placed a protractor on the disc and read out the angle.

  ‘285 degrees,’ he said and watched India as she drew the line.

  ‘It goes straight through Sicily,’ said Brandon, ‘but the glyph is different from the rest, it looks like a pyramid but the outer perimeter is a circle, not a square. Are there any pyramids in Sicily?’

  ‘Yes,’ said India, ‘but that’s a problem, there are over thirty located in the north east of the island. These markings are not accurate enough to identify which one as they are all so close together. What does that glyph look like again?’

  Brandon stared at the disc.

  ‘Here,’ said Tarik, ‘use this,’ and gave him the magnifying glass.

  ‘A circle within a circle,’ said Brandon, ‘connected by four radial arms. Like I said, it looks like the glyph for a normal pyramid but in circles instead of squares.’

  India slapped her hand against her forehead.

  ‘Of course,’ she said, ‘I’m being stupid. The symbol represents the greatest pyramid-like structure of them all.’

  ‘Which is?’ asked Brandon.

  ‘Etna,’ said Tarik as he too realised the link. ‘The smaller pyramids are all located around the volcano but the natural feature would be a perfect indicator for a king such as Khufu.’

  India bent over the map and made a tiny cross in the centre of the volcano.

  ‘The centre is about here, she said, ‘what’s the next bearing.’

  Brandon applied the protractor to the disc.

  ‘320 degrees,’ he said.

  India drew the corresponding line on the map before looking up at Tarik.

  ‘Sardinia,’ she said.

  ‘That’s easy,’ said Tarik, ‘for I spent last summer excavating there. Pranna Muttedu is a geological site with a series of three stone circles of different sizes. They date from about six thousand years ago.’

  ‘This is crazy,’ said India, ‘and far too easy. What is the next angle, Brandon?’

  ‘There isn’t one,’ said Brandon, ‘at least there’s no line inscribed on the disc. Perhaps that’s the location of the tomb?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so,’ said India, ‘there are more marks on the disc so they must mean something. If there’s no line, we need to try and calculate the direction directly from the stone circles.’

  ‘And how do you intend to do that?’ asked Brandon, ‘it could be in any direction. There are so many glyphs on this disc, it could be one of several.’

  ‘Let me see,’ said India and looked at the disc. Sure enough, the series of lines they had followed so far came to an end. To the west there were about a dozen more pyramid glyphs but no indication of which one was the target. ‘Damn, this doesn’t make sense. So far the disc has been accurate, why be obtuse now?’

  ‘It looks like they were just as careful in their map making as they were building tombs,’ said Brandon. ‘It would seem they even allowed for this disc being found and hid the real directions amongst many other options.’

  ‘Granted,’ said India, ‘but there must be a sign somewhere, what are we missing?’ She turned to Tarik.

  ‘Do you think there may be a message written on one of the pillars of the stone circles?’

  ‘I wouldn’t think so,’ said Tarik, ‘but I still have a colleague on the project. I can make a few calls and ask him to find out but it’s a bit early in the morning. Let’s get some rest and I’ll call him in a few hours.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Brandon. ‘Come on India, get some sleep. Tomorrow we will all be thinking a little bit clearer.’

  ‘Ok,’ sighed India reluctantly and unrolled her sleeping bag before finding a space in the room to stretch out. Within minutes Brandon and Tarik were fast asleep but India was wide awake, her mind racing with all the things they had discovered.

  ‘I’m missing something,’ she said to herself quietly, ‘something important.’ Eventually she closed her eyes and slipped into a restless and dream filled sleep.

  ----

  ‘Tarik, wake up,’ said India, shaking the Egyptian’s shoulder, ‘I need to ask you something.’

  ‘What’s the problem?’ asked Tarik sitting up in his own sleeping bag, ‘is everything alright?’

  ‘Everything’s fine,’ said India, ‘in fact, I think I’ve worked it out.’

  ‘Worked out what?’ asked Tarik.

  ‘The angle from S
ardinia, it was in front of us all the time but we couldn’t see for looking.’

  ‘Couldn’t it wait,’ yawned Brandon from the other side of the room.

  ‘What for? You’ve been sleeping for hours.’

  Brandon looked at his watch. It was almost midday.

  ‘So what have we missed?’ said Tarik, standing up and walking over to the map on the table.

  ‘Those circles,’ said India, ‘the ones you studied last summer. You said there were three, right?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Tarik.

  ‘And they diminish in size?’

  ‘They do.’

  ‘Then that’s it,’ said India, ‘there’s our marker.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Brandon. ‘Will someone please explain what I’m missing here?’

  ‘Tarik,’ said India, ignoring Brandon momentarily, ‘in antiquity, weren’t three circles diminishing in size often used as way markers?’

  ‘They were,’ said Tarik, ‘these days we tend to use arrows to indicate direction but many people forget the ancients thought in different ways. If someone on foot wanted to leave an indication of which way they went, they would often draw three circles on the ground, each reducing in size with the smallest being the direction to be followed.’

  ‘And if that’s the case,’ added India, ‘bearing in mind the scale on which the Egyptians thought, why wouldn’t they use the same method?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Tarik as he realised her point, ‘the circles are indeed in a straight line and it would be interesting to see where they point.’

  ‘Don’t you know?’

  ‘Not exactly but I can soon find out. ‘He picked up his phone and left the building to stand in the hot desert sun.

  Brandon joined India at the table.

  ‘You know,’ he said, ‘when it comes to this sort of stuff you are quite something.’

  ‘Not really,’ said India, ‘it’s just a combination of a passion for history and adequate time to research. I have always loved history and as a librarian, there was always time to delve into the records.’

  ‘Just as well,’ said Brandon, ‘for this thing is getting so convoluted, most people would have given up by now.’

  ‘And that’s why they fail,’ said India, ‘but let’s not get carried away, we haven’t found anything yet.’ The door opened and Tarik re-entered the room.

  ‘I have it,’ he said with a smile,’ the stones lie in an easterly alignment. I have the bearing as 270 degrees.’

  India applied the bearing to the map once more and stood back to better understand the results.

  ‘It goes straight through mainland Spain and Portugal,’ she said.

  ‘That can’t be right,’ said Brandon, ‘even I know there are no pyramids in Spain or Portugal.’

  ‘That’s not technically correct,’ said India. ‘On Tenerife there were originally nine pyramids very similar to those found in South America. They were only really discovered in 1999 as they were disregarded by the locals for thousands of years and used as a source of building materials. Only six now remain intact.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Brandon, ‘but Tenerife is in the Canary Islands, nowhere near our bearing from Sardinia. I think it is safe to say we can discount them.’

  ‘I agree,’ said India, ‘but it is very frustrating. There may not be pyramids on the mainland but there are plenty of stone circles. Perhaps we need to get to a computer and list them out. If we can find one that lays more or less on the bearing then that’s possibly the glyph the disc refers to?’

  ‘But the disc shows a pyramid,’ said Brandon, ‘and so far it’s been fairly accurate. Why should we doubt it now?’

  As they were talking, Tarik walked over and stared down at India’s pencil line stretching across Spain and Portugal.

  ‘We shouldn’t,’ he said quietly. ‘The disc is a true representation of the Ba journey.’

  ‘But it is self-contradictory,’ said India, ‘there are no pyramids that I know of in either mainland Spain or Portugal.’

  Without speaking, Tarik reached down and picked up the ruler and pencil. As India and Brandon watched, he extended the line out from the western coast of Spain and out into the Atlantic. He placed the ruler and pencil slowly back onto the map and looked up at India, waiting for a comment. For a few moments she stared at him in confusion before staring down at the small group of islands where the pencil line now terminated.

  ‘The Azores?’ she said looking up once more, ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘That’s our glyph location,’ said Tarik.

  ‘Now you are not making any sense,’ said Brandon, ‘I know for a fact there are no pyramids there.’

  Tarik looked toward India.

  ‘He’s right,’ she said, ‘there’s hardly any historical evidence there and definitely no record of pyramid building. I think we must have the bearing wrong.’

  ‘The bearing isn’t wrong, India,’ said Tarik, ‘in fact, it’s remarkably accurate. I think you had better sit down, there is something I need to tell you.’

  ----

  Chapter Twenty One

  Egypt

  2014

  ‘Brandon,’ said Tarik, ‘yesterday we mentioned a history different to that taught by the authorities, do you remember?’

  ‘I do,’ said Brandon, ‘and you were going to give me an example but I think we got side tracked.’

  ‘We did,’ said Tarik, ‘but I will share something with you now. If you go along with the views of current historians and governments, they would have us believe that mankind, in its present form of an intelligent, forward thinking species has only been around for ten thousand years or so. In that time, we have found continents, built pyramids and explored every corner of the planet. In addition we have plumbed the ocean depths, discovered flight, developed nuclear energy and landed on the moon. That’s quite a lot for ten thousand years, don’t you think?’

  ‘Ten thousand years is a long time,’ said Brandon.

  ‘It is,’ said Tarik, ‘but you need to look at it in context. Imagine the history of the planet can be summed up in one day, where it was created at a second past midnight, and today’s date is represented as twenty four hours later. Can you grasp that concept?’

  ‘I can,’ said Brandon, ‘go on’

  ‘Well in that scenario,’ said Tarik, ‘we, as a species arrived on this planet three seconds ago.

  ‘That late huh?’

  ‘That late,’ said Tarik, ‘now, bearing that in mind and taking into consideration all the things we are supposed to have done in the last ten thousand years, isn’t it even a tiny bit conceivable that perhaps humanity or at least a version of humanity possibly existed a long time earlier than previously thought?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ said Brandon, ‘but if that’s the case, where’s the evidence? You people are the experts so why aren’t we seeing the data?’

  ‘Well that’s the problem,’ said India, ‘the evidence is all around us but the mainstream media and so called experts are quick to label anything they don’t agree with as the dreams of fools. Almost on a daily basis, someone somewhere discovers proof that things are not as they seem but either they are ignored or are accused of using unscientific methods.’

  ‘What sort of proof?’

  ‘Wow, where do I start?’ said India. ‘There are all sorts of things available like evidence in Mexico of a village hundreds of thousands of years old, complete with sophisticated tools indicating civilisation eons before we are supposed to have been even able to talk, or human artefacts found deep inside lumps of coal after being mined from hundreds of feet down. Even the process of turning trees into coal takes hundreds of thousands of years yet there has been tools found within the seams. What about the constant uncovering of skeletons in America who are consistently over seven foot tall, evidence of a race of giant people who lived all over the world centuries ago yet as soon as they are uncovered, along come the authorities, confiscate the finds and the artef
acts disappear, never to be seen again. Even the big museums are guilty of it which is not surprising as most get their funding from government either through grants or via the back door.’

  ‘There are all sorts of stories,’ interrupted Tarik, ‘and even many written down in other cultures’ histories. For instance, in there’s a holy book called the Mahabharata. Within its records are details of a war between two countries, a war that killed millions and devastated the two nations involved. It details flying machines called Vimana that rained their weapons down on the enemy and ultimately blinding explosions that wiped out whole populations. It goes on to say elephants burst into flame, water sources boiled instantly and evaporated while the skin fell off anyone exposed to the ash of the fires. Whole areas were rendered uninhabitable by something that made people fall very sick and develop untreatable sores. In some places, whole swathes of stone has been melted to a smooth glass like finish, a process that can only be achieved with obscene amounts of heat. Even now there are places so high in radiation that people are forbidden to enter the area.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Brandon, ‘you’re not suggesting nuclear weapons are you?’

  ‘As strange as it may seem, that is exactly what some experts are suggesting. The descriptions are very detailed and accurately describe not only the actual explosions but also the effects of radiation poisoning.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Brandon, ‘but that sort of information is common knowledge.’

  ‘These days yes, but what if I was to tell you that the Mahabharata was written almost two thousand years ago?’

  Brandon didn’t answer but just stared in silence as the information sunk in.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said eventually, ‘it all just sounds like one big conspiracy theory to me.’

  ‘Look,’ said Tarik, ‘I’m not saying all these stories are fact but the thing is there are so many examples out there and so much evidence available that some of it must be true and that’s why organisations like the Rosarian Path exist, to prove there is a global cover up and ultimately bring the governments of this world to account.’