Cries from the Lost Island

by Kathleen O'Neal Gear

  “Dr. Corbelle? Can you hear me?”

  Water sparkled as it ran in braided streams toward the chamber.

  “LaSalle?”

  When I eased open the door and peered into the chamber, I saw that about two inches of water had accumulated on the floor. In the gleam of the three oil lamps that still burned, the pool rippled, casting luminous reflections over the chamber.

  Wading forward, I saw the dead body beside the mummy’s table.

  The sight stunned me. I wasn’t sure it was her. The body had swollen hideously. Her neck looked like it had been wrenched back, and her jaws pried open. In places, her skin had ruptured and the flesh burst out. The gladius rested nearby, and I wondered if she’d sliced open the skin herself.

  “What happened?” I whispered as I slogged forward and picked up the ancient weapon.

  Tearing my gaze away, I shone my flashlight around the rest of the room. Everything was exactly as it had been, except the shield over the mummy’s chest was resting at an angle. She must have knocked it sideways when she’d reached for the dagger.

  I approached him reverently and placed the gladius at his side on the table. “I’m sorry, Antonius. You won’t understand this for a while, but please trust me.”

  When I lifted the beautifully painted red shield to look for the bagsu, something slithered.

  “What. . . !”

  Dropping the shield, I shuffled away until my back hit the wall. Right in front of me, an Egyptian cobra lifted its head to stare at me with bizarre shining eyes. It flicked its tongue.

  Petrified, I couldn’t move. The snake was absolutely lethal. It must have crawled in during the storm and . . .

  As I watched, the cobra slithered across the shield and down the table into the water. It swam across the floor, and headed for the statue of Set, where it lovingly coiled around the god’s feet, like a pet or a supernatural companion.

  Carefully, I lifted the shield to look beneath it, then grabbed the dagger and tucked it in my pocket. Convinced that my next act was insane, I nonetheless ran the gladius through my belt and lifted the mummy into my arms—it was feather light.

  I carried him up the corridor as quickly as possible, then slogged across the wet temple outside, and climbed the stairs to look out at the wet site of Pelusium. The amphitheater and the standing marble columns literally shimmered.

  The police were close. I could see three cars headed toward the field camp, less than ten minutes away.

  It took five minutes to reach our tent and wrap the mummy in my sleeping bag.

  By the time the police arrived, I was waiting for them in the parking lot. Most of the lake had evaporated or soaked in, leaving behind a delicate embroidery, as if the ground and ruins were netted all over with liquid silver spiderwebs.

  So far as I knew, I was the only living person who had seen the mummy. . . .

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Sitting in the white hospital room, watching Egyptian soap operas on the TV was about as interesting as watching Roberto’s mother rearrange his bedcovers for the thousandth time. They’d flown in that morning, along with my parents, and had been hovering ever since.

  “Doctor says he’s going to be okay, Martha,” Roberto’s father, a tall brown-haired man, said. “Stop fussing with his blankets. You’ll wake him. He needs his sleep.”

  Mrs. Dally straightened with tears in her eyes. “Are they sure he’ll be able to walk again?”

  “You heard the doctor, same as I did. Yes, he’ll walk. Now, come on. Let’s go find a cup of coffee and something to eat.”

  Mrs. Dally turned to me. “Will you stay with him, Hal? Till we get back?”

  “Sure, Mrs. Dally.”

  “All right.” She reluctantly turned toward the door. Mr. Dally put his arm around her and guided her down the hall, speaking softly to her.

  The soap opera stars spoke way too fast for my limited Egyptian. Sometimes I caught a word or a phrase, but mostly I couldn’t understand much. I reached for the remote to turn off the sound, and idly listened to people hurrying by in the corridor outside, while I thought about the past few days.

  By the time Moriarity arrived back at the site, the police had been all over the tomb and temple. They’d kept asking me about the mutilated bodies. How had they been decapitated and ripped in half? Obviously, they didn’t believe me and Roberto when we said the rain had been so heavy we hadn’t seen a thing. But what were we supposed to tell them? Not the truth, that was for sure.

  “Hey, Hal?” Roberto said without opening his eyes. “You still here?”

  “I’m not the only one who’s here. Your hospital room has been Grand Central. Your parents, my parents, Moriarity, Sarah. Half the field crew has been here to stare at you.”

  “Yeah? Am I a hero?”

  “More like a reality show star. Nobody really likes you, but they can’t take their eyes off you.”

  He smiled.

  After three days, one surgery, and enough antibiotics to heal a horse, he was doing better. An IV slowly dripped into his arm while he dozed. He was going to have a great scar over his right ear from the bullet graze, but the doctors said his leg would heal up nicely.

  “How you doing?” I asked. “You hungry?”

  “I could eat a dead cat.”

  “Nurse was by a little while ago. Said your lunch is coming.”

  “Good to kn . . .” His eyes widened. “Hey, turn up the TV. Your favorite person is on the news.”

  I turned to see Moriarity talking to a woman reporter.

  Grabbing the remote, I turned up the sound. It was in English.

  “Dr. Moriarity, the police are lauding you as the hero of the day for breaking up a major illegal antiquities ring. What was your first clue that your colleague, Dr. LaSalle Corbelle, was an antiquities smuggler?”

  Moriarity was in his element. The limelight. In his dusty fedora, he looked very much like an older version of Indiana Jones.

  “Well, Miss Ragab, it was the missing artifacts that first tipped me off. Some of our best finds went missing and ended up being sold on the open market. The only person that made sense was my colleague from the Royal Ontario Museum. So I planted my students on her crews to watch her and report back to me if they saw anything—”

  Like Tashir.

  “I guess he’s as famous as Lord Carnivore now, huh?” Roberto asked.

  Turning down the sound, I set the remote on the bedside table. “Carnarvon. Yeah, for the moment.”

  Roberto looked out the door, and lowered his voice. “Speaking of spectacular finds . . .”

  He let the sentence dangle, because it wasn’t necessary to finish it.

  “In a safe place,” I answered.

  Roberto shoved the sheet off his chest, and straightened his blue hospital gown. He just stared at the quiet TV for a while.

  “Then what, Hal?”

  I took a breath and let it out slowly. “When you’re better, we take a trip. Sarah’s been great. Without her, I don’t know where I’d have stowed the mummy.”

  “She hid the mummy for you?”

  “Yeah. In one of the big storage boxes on the site. I didn’t have anyone else to turn to. She’s okay, Roberto. Didn’t even hesitate.”

  A broad grin brightened his face. “Yeah? Knew I liked her.”

  As though another thought had occurred to him, his smile faded. After a few deep breaths, he turned away to look hollowly at the corridor outside where people hustled by. “I keep reliving it, do you?”

  “Yeah. Sure, I do.”

  “God, Hal, I keep trying to figure out if I could have saved you without killing someone, but I don’t see how.”

  The guilt must be smothering him, just as it was me. In my dreams, I went over it again and again, struggling not to kill Malik. “If you hadn’t fired when you did, I’d b
e dead, Roberto. And probably so would you.”

  “Guess so. I just wish . . .”

  “You’re awake!” Mrs. Dally cried and rushed back into the room. Mr. Dally and my parents hurried in behind her. As she leaned over the bed to kiss Roberto’s forehead, Mrs. Dally said, “My God, I’m never letting you out of my sight again. Do you hear me?”

  “I thought you wanted me to go away to college. Far away.”

  “Not anymore.” She was crying when she carefully slipped her arms around Roberto and hugged him. “I’ve decided I’m going to tie a rope around your neck and drag you with me everywhere I go for the rest of your life.”

  Roberto gave her a big hug. “Oh, that sounds like fun, Mom.”

  My father walked over and stood beside my chair. Resting a hand on my shoulder, he gave it a squeeze. “You all right, Hal?”

  “Yeah, Dad. Did you get your plane tickets rebooked?”

  He nodded. “All taken care of. We’re leaving day after tomorrow. And we’ll see you in ten days, right?”

  “Right. How did Mom take the news that I wouldn’t be flying home with you?”

  Dad turned his head to look at Mom where she stood near the door speaking with Mr. Dally. “I told her you’re a man now, and we have to treat you like one. She didn’t even argue.”

  I stared at my mom. Mr. Dally was apparently having a serious conversation with her about Roberto’s psychology, because he kept glancing in at his son, then whispering to Mom.

  I reached up to grip my father’s hand where it rested on my shoulder. “Thanks, Dad.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Three weeks later . . .

  I dreamed of sunlight.

  And then I woke, and the sunlight was real. I could feel it warming the nylon of my windbreaker. For a while, I drifted, listening to the wind rustle through the palm fronds. Dawn had just touched the desert. Far out in the distance, luminous veils of sand blew across the dunes.

  “You awake?”

  “Just.”

  Roberto stood ten feet away with his shoulder leaned against the trunk of an ancient olive tree. The blossoms were gone now, though shriveled petals created a ring around the green pond at the oasis Samael had loved so much. Roberto was doing well. His leg had healed, and he was getting stronger by the day, but yesterday’s hike had been the first real test of his endurance. When we’d arrived at dusk, he’d been exhausted, limping. The stars had been so magnificent we’d slept outside and talked long into the night while we’d stared at them.

  “How you feeling this morning?”

  “Sore. Nothing major.”

  His brown beard had grown out, but he’d cut his hair short after he got out of the hospital. He seemed older. Of course, part of that was the new look in his blue eyes. Some of the old fun was gone, replaced by a harder edge.

  “You said you wanted to start at dawn.”

  “I do.” I got to my feet.

  The mummy rested inside the mouth of Samael’s cave, shrouded with sunlit glitters. It had been over two thousand years since he’d awakened in the morning sunlight, feeling the wind on his face. I wondered how he felt. Did he understand why we’d brought him here?

  “I have the dagger. Can you get the gladius and the tools?”

  “On it,” Roberto said.

  While he gathered the things we’d need, I walked over and lifted the mummy into my arms. The purple sheath was so fragile now. Threads crumbled beneath my fingertips as I carried him outside.

  The walk along the cliff face was mostly silent. Roberto’s steps padded behind me. Hawks circled overhead. I daydreamed of cobras.

  When we reached the “demon” cave, I thought about Samael. No wonder he’d told everyone there was a demon locked in this cave. People out here believed such things. How many lifetimes had he spent protecting this place?

  I gently lowered the mummy to the sand. “Let’s dig out as much dirt as we can. That should give us enough space.”

  With both of us digging, it didn’t take long to expose the bedrock and the hole beneath the board.

  “Okay, Hal, this is big enough. Why don’t you go first, and I’ll slide the mummy through to you.”

  Warm darkness cocooned me when I crawled through. Digging into my pocket, I grabbed my flashlight and panned the beam across the gigantic hieroglyphic panel. My throat tightened with emotion. The huge ships, the countless rows of soldiers standing with lances in their hands . . . Why hadn’t I made the connection when I’d first seen this panel? It was the Battle of Actium. My beam drifted to Ammut where she sat on her hippopotamus hindquarters with her crocodile jaws gaping wide at the figure of Cleopatra carrying a platter of food and a cup of wine to a kneeling man. Antonius, of course. They had clearly already been judged and their souls found too heavy to travel to the afterlife. Ammut was merely carrying out her duty to the gods. She was not evil. Just obedient.

  “Here he comes, Hal.”

  I got on my knees and carefully pulled the mummy into the cave. Lifting him in my arms, I stood up, leaving room for Roberto to crawl through.

  “There’s a breeze in here, Hal. Where’s it coming from? Is there another entrance in the back of this cave?”

  “Never made it all the way back. Let’s find out.”

  “Wait a minute,” he said frowning at the rows of ships painted on the wall. “What is that?”

  “Battle of Actium, I think.”

  “Where Antonius abandoned his troops and chased after Cleopatra’s flagship.”

  I nodded, and remembered his utter despair as he’d looked out over the giant encampment spreading across the Greek lowlands, his fear that Cleopatra was poisoning him. And his desperate love for her, even in the final moments of his life.

  Gently holding his body against my chest, I started walking.

  Within thirty paces, faint whispers eddied around us, and my skin started to tingle. Roberto didn’t see the pyramid until his penlight beam flashed across it.

  “My God,” he whispered in awe.

  I let my gaze climb upward through the thousands of lances, spears, swords, and daggers, encircled by the ring of dark oil lamps. With the beams of our two flashlights bouncing around the spectacular structure, it became an inferno of gold and flickering jewels.

  “I need you to wait here with the gladius. Is that okay?”

  “Sure.” He spread his feet and cradled the Roman sword across his chest as though standing guard.

  I walked deeper into the cave, past the throne where I’d found the dagger, and kept going until tongues of darkness licked at the boundary to the dark underworld of Osiris.

  Roberto quietly watched me and waited.

  When the hair on my arms began to rise, I heard the soft footsteps coming toward me.

  “Hal?” Roberto whispered.

  “It’s all right. I understand now.”

  The steps halted right in front of me, and I smelled Cleopatra’s perfume, as sweet and exotic in this enclosed cave as it had been in my bedroom two months ago. The urge to weep was so powerful I had to squeeze my eyes closed for a couple of seconds to compose myself. My voice sounded hoarse: “I brought him to you.”

  As I carried the mummy deeper into the cave, the darkness became crushing, swallowing my flashlight beam as though the battery was almost gone.

  Then I saw her.

  In a small chamber in the deepest part of the cave. By the time they’d brought her here, she’d been dead for days. They must have wanted to get it over with and get back to Alexandria and their rewards. Though, if I knew Gaius Julius, their rewards had been swift beheadings. A shrewd politician, he’d have left no witnesses.

  “Did you find her?” Roberto called.

  “Yeah . . . Yeah, I did.”

  “How do you know? Is she talking to you?”

  “No. But I kno
w it’s her.”

  The small skeleton rested on its side. Her purple robes had faded to blue over time. She had begged to be buried with Antonius. Cleo had told me she couldn’t bear to enter the afterlife without him.

  Inhaling a deep breath, I knelt and eased the mummy to the floor, laying him beside her.

  From where he stood by the pyramid, Roberto studied me with a curious expression. “Now what?”

  “Now, I keep a promise.”

  As gently as I could, I eased the jeweled dagger into the tangle of her finger bones. My throat had constricted. It was hard to speak. “I’ll always love you. You’ll find your way now. Both of you. I know you will.”

  There was no tunnel of light, no appearance of ancient scary gods, no trumpets or fanfare. Which, I had to believe, was just as they would have wanted it.

  Lonely, frightened, emptier than I had ever been, I rose to my feet and walked back toward Roberto.

  As I curved around the shimmering pyramid of weapons, I felt like an angel tumbling from heaven with broken wings, spiraling down, the ground getting closer by the second, like I was fighting gravity.

  I couldn’t explain it.

  “You’re breathing weird, Hal. Everything okay?”

  “Leaving her is harder than I thought.” I didn’t look back as I said, “Okay, your turn, Roberto. Samael’s last request was that we add a weapon to this pyramid. Ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  Carrying the gladius in both hands, Roberto stepped inside the ring of dark oil lamps, knelt, and carefully placed it across two lances.

  As he rose and backed out of the ring, wind breathed through the pyramid like a thousand hushed voices sighing in unison.

  Roberto’s gaze darted around. “Hear that? What. . . ?”

  Light exploded in the cave.

  Roberto cried out and threw up an arm as he leaped backward away from the spinning whirlwind of sparks that whipped through the pyramid. When it reached the very peak, the whole structure roared up in flames, the heat unbearable, rubies, emeralds, gold, and silver blazing.