Alex pulled his thoughts back to the bulls. “I really do not understand why they have not come in and finished us off. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“I ask,” said Cairo as he kicked off his flip-flops. Step by step he moved back up to the floor above. His sticky feet gave him the grip that he needed on the smooth marble.
“He is brave all of a sudden.”
Alex wanted to tell Kate that with the fear she put into them he would also prefer to be up with the bulls, however, he restrained himself from doing so. “The bulls could have easily killed Cairo, they chose not to.”
“Good point,” was as much of an apology as Kate was going to give. “I’m surprised Cairo worked that out.”
“He is maturing quickly.” Alex was not totally sure if Cairo had worked it out, but he would not be surprised if he had.
A few minutes later Cairo slid back down to re-join his friends. He appeared to be very excited. “They harmless, they cannot walk.” Cairo tried to explain in greater detail. His attempts failed, causing him to beckon them to follow him to the bulls.
Alex tried to make his way back up the slope, though with his feet being neither as flat nor as wide as Cairo’s, he failed.
Kate laughed at his attempts, before she also tried to walk up the slope, equally without success, except nobody laughed at her.
Hearing the loud taps of the hoofs of a single bull as it approached, it was apparent, to the boys at least, that it was having the greatest difficulty in walking on the marble floor. Now as it looked down at them, Alex ushered both Kate and Cairo to stand to one side, so it could slide down. Having arrived with its front legs firmly stuck under its chest, its rear legs splayed out at an unnatural angle; it snorted as it tossed its head, not in anger or aggression, but from pain. Cairo and Alex appeared to know exactly what to do, though Kate was floundering. Yet again she had read the situation incorrectly, as she had seen it as an attack, until the boys had put her straight.
Knowing what had to be done and actually doing it were two completely different things. There was no way the boys were going to be able to move a bull, though working together, whilst Kate stood trance like as she watched, they managed to free one front leg. Moving to the rear of the animal, they did their very best to move a back leg into a more comfortable position. To their surprise its legs did not bend at all. They were locked solid at the knee.
Alex could not have missed the extreme pain which had showed in the bull’s eyes as they moved its front leg. The bull now appeared to be in far less pain than it had been, though what more they could do for the animal was beyond him.
Kate twitched slightly as her eyes darted around the room. Alex could see by her demeanour that she wanted to be in charge, to tell them what to do, though any thoughts of a plan clearly evaded her.
Cairo ran over to the line of tombs. He almost slipped over on the shiny marble as he did. Kicking off his flip-flops, as he had done when he had walked up the slope, his bare feet gave him much better grip. He looked back as he pointed to the first tomb, though he was not looking at either Kate or Alex. He moved to the next tomb. This time Alex was watching the bull. He was sure he saw it give an almost imperceptible shake of its head. As Cairo moved to tomb after tomb, Alex knew he was communicating with the animal.
Somewhere approaching the middle of the row of tombs, the bull snorted. Alex, barefooted, walked over to join Cairo. Kate also made her way over to him, though there was no way she was going to take her shoes off. She changed her mind after a slip and a heavy fall.
“What on earth are you doing?” she abruptly asked as she reached the boys.
“What is your thinking?” asked Alex of Cairo as he ignored Kate’s rudeness.
“It a guess,” he said with excitement showing upon his face, as he knew he was correct in his thinking. “We need to get in here. Then we know why bull cannot walk.”
There was a wait, whilst Cairo made his way back up the slope, to retrieve tools from the main corridor. In his haste, he lost his grip towards the top of the slope, sliding down onto the bull. Alex yet again saw pain in its eyes, though he saw no anger.
Kate started to say something that obviously was going to be rude, so Alex hushed her both by voice and look.
Fear had left Cairo, allowing him to return much quicker than either Kate or Alex had expected. They now had two picks and a spade.
“How did you get past the bulls?”
“No bulls, Mr Alex, they gone.”
The outside of the tombs of the bulls were completely plain, each reaching from floor to ceiling. When built, it was clear to see each had been left with an opening with a curved top, through which the mummified bull would have been placed into the tomb. Once inside, this was bricked up. No door here, as these tombs were intended to remain sealed for eternity.
By the time they had made an opening large enough to be able to squeeze through, they sweating profusely and very dry, though they had finished all their water earlier.
Alex offered Cairo the chance to go in first, he refused. He was obviously not feeling as brave as he had done. Kate told Alex to get through the hole and stop wasting time. It was not very large so she was worried that she would not be able to get through.
“Can you see anything, Alex?”
“I see wonderful things!”
“Forget the Howard Carter impressions, can you see anything?”
“Yes, Mr Alex, what can you see?”
“Highly decorated walls. Surprisingly, not one, but two bulls, though they are both standing. Do come in and help me.”
Cairo remained hesitant, though upon seeing the thunderous look on the face of Kate he was soon standing beside his friend.
In the darkness of the tomb Alex used his torch to point out to Cairo the two bulls, with particular emphasis on how they were mummified in a standing position. The dry yellowed wrappings had been painted with the bull’s distinguishing features. It was clear to see that the bull outside was obviously the mummified bull to their left.
Kate shoved a flaming torch through to them, which Alex immediately threw back.
“Are you trying to kill us? We are in a room full of dried bandages!” He immediately wished he had not been quite so hard. Leaving his battery operated torch with Cairo he slipped out to see Kate who was so apologetic that it took him by surprise. “Easy mistake,” he said, “no harm done.”
“I should have known, I should have thought. Napoleon’s troops burned hundreds of mummies to keep warm when they were camped by the Ramesseum … I really cannot do this anymore, Alex.”
“None of us can. That is why we all need this to be over. We have only had to cope with this for a short while, the ancients have had to deal with this for thousands of years. Think on that!” Once he was back with Cairo, who had obviously spent his time reading the hieroglyphs on the wall, Alex was amazed by what he was being told, not least because Cairo must have been reading these by using his ancient memories.
“It say dead Bull mummified and buried with bull mother. Their legs were …” Cairo made like someone who was using a hammer.
“Nailed.”
“Yes, it say their legs were nailed to wooden boards, as if in walking position. They were respected and carried around the temple before end here.”
“What of their knees? Does it say anything of their knees?”
Cairo went between the mummified bulls where he shone the torch at the far wall. There was almost no room between the back of the bulls and the wall. Alex stood towards the back of the wooden platform, to which one of the bulls had been attached. It started to rock as if it was a vastly oversized rocking horse. The images in front of them depicted quite graphically how the bulls were prepared for burial, and how indeed the base resembled that of a rocking horse. Alex’s attention was drawn to the drawing of two ancient Egyptians. One was holding the leg of a bull straight, whilst the other pushed in either a wooden or metal stake, to keep it that way.
“When I die
, Cairo, do not put me down for mummification,” said Alex, as he paraphrased a line from one of his favourite films, The Mummy.
Cairo laughed, as he had also seen the film many times.
“Down to work, Cairo. Let’s see how difficult it is to withdraw these stakes. Would you shine the torch this way?”
Cairo did as requested. Alex was amazed how easy it was for him to withdraw a long gold stake from the rear leg of the bull. He did stop at one point because he heard the bull outside, obviously in pain. Now as he looked out, he saw the bull moving a back leg as he should be able to do. Emboldened by this, he pulled the other metal stakes out in quick succession. Now, as both he and Cairo tried to look out through the same hole, they saw the bull attempting to stand. It managed to, though the marble floor made it difficult for him to move.
“Follow me,” said Alex, as he left the tomb to go over to where the bull stood. Using their picks, he and Cairo lifted a large square of marble up onto one edge, before letting it fall. Kate came over with her spade. Wedging it under one edge she was able to push the slab of marble across the room, well out of the way. Square after square of marble was lifted, dropped onto its shiny face, then slid to the far side of the room. Soon the bull could stand with ease. He almost danced on the spot. His head moved wildly as he tried to look down in utter disbelief at his now working legs.
What followed, was an amazing team effort. The animosity of earlier had gone as together they moved mountains. Sweating profusely, they looked at their efforts as they listened to the happy stamping of hooves from the many bulls who had returned to the tunnel above. Most of the marble had been removed from the floor and piled up around the edge of the room. The bull had used his hind legs to break into tomb after tomb. Gold stakes had been removed from the legs of every mummified bull and bull mother. Though exhausted, the sounds of happy bulls above them brought smiles of satisfaction to their faces.
Chapter 21
-
A Difficult Conversation
The conversation between Kate and Gadeem, on the roof of his villa, appeared to be amazingly similar to the one Alex had heard before.
“Yes, Gadeem, really,” said an overly excited Kate.
“Are you telling me that this really is a ring from the nose of the Apis bull, freely given?”
“Yes!”
“Honestly?”
“Yes.”
Gadeem, hands shaking from anticipation, took the gold ring from her.
“It was not freely given, it was taken. Come on, Kate, our future relies on this spell being correct. You took that ring!”
“Semantics, you are talking semantics, Alex. You are only annoyed because you did not get the ring.”
“I did get the correct ring, as this was freely given to Cairo and me after you had run off with that one.” He pulled a gold ring out from his pocket.
Kate ran off. Rose quickly went after her.
“You could have handled that better,” said Gadeem. “Now tell me more.”
Alex, with the help of Cairo, explained everything. Right up to the point where, despite being exhausted, they had cleared both the slope and the upper floor of the marble. How the bulls had circled them in a show of thanks and how Cairo had asked, “Is ringed by bulls the same as a ring from a bull?”
“What is wrong with Kate’s ring?” asked Gadeem, as he felt he was hearing too many of the wrong details.
“There would have been nothing wrong with it if she hadn’t been in such a hurry. I can’t see that her ring was freely given. Yes, it was given to her, it was, but only because she demanded it to be given to her, in return for what we had done for the bulls. I don’t know if I’m worrying too much or not.”
“You are not,” said Gadeem quite abruptly, before Alex could say any more. “These are the things which can destroy a spell. So, tell me, how did you get your ring?”
“Though the bulls could not speak to us, it was clear they understood us. We explained that we were happy to help them, why we were there and what we needed a ring for.”
“Yes,” said Cairo, “a bull mother took this ring from nose of son, then dropped it at our feet. That freely given.”
“Yes, it was. I cannot disagree with that.” Gadeem tussled Cairo’s hair before swopping rings with Alex. “I know you will ensure it is returned to its rightful owner.”
Alex would not only ensure it was returned, but he would take two rings back with him. He fully intended to use a little of the ancient gold which Aryamani had said was his, to have a replacement ring made. It would not be right for a Buchis bull to live in the afterlife without a ring.
Rose sat down beside Kate on a rather large and extremely comfortable sofa. She said nothing as she waited for Kate to speak. After quite a while, Rose had no option except to say, “I am here as your friend.”
“Are you, are you really? I have no friends, they all hate me, you hate me. You only want to be friendly because I can get rid of the warlock for you.”
Rose was not a person to be played with, so she said, “You are probably right,” as she got up to leave. Upon reaching the door, she turned to give Kate some advice. “You need to be thankful for what you have, rather than miserable for what you haven’t.”
After a second or two Kate called after her, saying she needed to talk. Rose sat back down on her own sofa where she listened to Kate moan about everything. She was indeed her own worst enemy.
“I would like you to sit in silence and take in what I have to say. No storming out, no tears. All I need you to do is listen. Do we have a deal?” Kate nodded. “I have sat and listened to everything you consider to be wrong with your life. It was a long list, as every little thing is a calamity to you.
“Okay, I fully accept that your ancient memories are not clearing, that your mind is stuck somewhere between that of a teenager and a forty, possibly fifty-year-old, of several thousand years ago. I accept that many things in your life are far from easy, whilst you will have to accept that you have special talents that are very unlikely to make your life easier.
“I also completely understand how you have difficulty coping with both Alex and Cairo, not only because they have ‘seen’, but because they are, in your opinion, taking over.”
Kate went to speak; Rose stopped her. “Yes, I do want you to speak,” she said, Kate looked more than a little confused having just been stopped from saying anything, “but, from this moment on, I only want you to tell me and everyone of all the good things, funny things, positive things, which have happened to you since you arrived in Luxor.
“What we are going to do now, is to go back onto the roof. What I need you to remember is how you feel at this moment in time, right now, as you will need to compare this feeling with how you will feel at the end of this evening. Then you can make a decision, because it is up to you how you see life. Fun or frustration, depression or determination, a future or a failure, liked or loathed.”
“Okay, okay, I get it.”
“I thought you would. Now let’s get some drinks for everyone which we can take up as we go.”
Whilst preparing drinks, Kate told Rose about her encounters with bats, how Cairo had been ejected from the Valley of the Kings, and how Aggie had been shot from a police launch, as if from out of a cannon. They both laughed many times. She hugged Rose, thanked her, and agreed that it was better to remember the good things, to be happy with what she had.
Rose seriously doubted Kate’s euphoric state would last for long, but she was ever hopeful.
Upon returning to the roof, it became clear to Kate why Rose had made so many different drinks. Gadeem, Alex and Cairo had been joined by Ramses, Nakhtifi, Bast, and much to her surprise, Dr Margretti and Joe.
It was a good light-hearted evening. At one point Kate tried to find out more about the Doctor from Joe, though he was not in a giving frame of mind. She doubted Joe ever really let himself go. On the surface, he was going along with the spirit of the evening, though on a deeper level he appe
ared to be very worried about something. He was not forthcoming on this matter either.
Alex also tried hard to find out more about Dr Margretti, who was very much at ease with Ramses. They appeared to be old buddies. However, he had no more success than Kate.
Cairo, on the other hand, succeeded. He had likened Dr Margretti to Akhenaton as the three young adventurers had sat on a pontoon on the Nile. He was unwilling to give up on this idea so he asked several searching questions. As Ramses’ red wine was flowing freely, tongues did loosen. Cairo found out snippets of information which Alex and Kate put together as they listened.
Obviously, Dr Margretti knew of ancients, he also knew of their quest, though they were surprised to learn just how much he knew about Kate and Alex. It was far more than any of them could have reasonably expected him to know. The doctor had had a wife whom he had adored, though she had unexpectedly left him and taken his son with her. A son who later died, whilst in his teens. He had the greatest respect for pharaohs such as Ramses, Nakhtifi, and Akhenaton, whilst he had an utter loathing of Merenptah, Ay and Horemheb.
Upon putting together all that he had heard, Alex was more convinced of Cairo’s theory than ever. Dr Margretti must be some relation of Akhenaton, though when Alex put this to him, he said it was a ridiculous suggestion, adding, “I have been working with mummies at the British Museum for so long, I have probably started to look like one.” He laughed as he finished speaking, yet again his shoulders moved far too much.
Kate still wondered why an English archaeologist needed a bouncer … a bodyguard. Quentin did not need one, and he was far more famous than Dr Margretti. She also wondered why he, and for that matter Joe, would not leave their Batmobile when Quentin and Alex could have done with their help.
Both Kate and Alex were of the same opinion, though via very different reasoning. Dr Margretti was definitely connected to an ancient. If it had not been for his ability to walk on, touch and use things which an ancient could not, Alex would have agreed with Cairo that he was indeed Akhenaton.
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