Phantoms of the Pharaoh (A Lady Marmalade Mystery Book 4)

by Jason Blacker

  Trenglove put his hand into his other pocket and pulled out a wad of crumpled and still damp British pounds. He counted out ten one pound notes and handed them over to Khaemhet. Khaemhet took his time to count them for himself.

  "Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Howard?" asked Khaemhet, quite happy with his new found fortune.

  "Point us in the direction of the Pyramid of Menkaure."

  Trenglove could only see one pyramid that was off at forty-five degrees from where he stood talking with Khaemhet. Khaemhet turned around and pointed at the pyramid.

  "That big one there, is the Great Pyramid of Giza. You can't see the Pyramid of Menkaure because it is hidden. Behind this Pyramid of Giza is the Pyramid of Khafre, and behind that is the smallest one, the Pyramid of Menkaure."

  Trenglove grunted his appreciation and started to walk off. Khaemhet grabbed him by the arm. Trenglove looked down at the Egyptian's hand and then at Khaemhet.

  "Do not go inside, Mr. Howard. The Pharaohs will curse you if you do."

  Trenglove looked at him. Khaemhet was pleading, his eyes full of sincerity. For the first time he didn't look like the scheming thief that Trenglove had known.

  "Of course not," blurted Trenglove. "I told you, we just want to take a closer look unencumbered by the tourists."

  "Don't, Mr. Howard, please do not go inside. They say the priests placed curses to protect the Pharaohs. You will die if you dare to disturb the Pharaoh."

  "Yes, well, that's jolly good to know. You can be on your way, Khaemhet," said Trenglove, ripping his arm free from the man's hand.

  Trenglove and Vipond climbed on top of the kneeling camels, and then got them upright. Khaemhet came up and unleashed the camels from the tree. Trenglove and Vipond started off towards the big pyramid looming like an arrow towards the heavens and twinkling stars.

  "I warned you, Mr. Howard. I warned you," came Khaemhet's shouts as the camels slowly walked away, carrying Trenglove and Vipond as well as their dreams and hopes for riches of untold boundlessness.

  "These damn superstitious people," spat Trenglove, "no wonder we've had to come and help them into the technical age."

  Vipond looked at his friend.

  "Though there might be something to it, I suppose," said Vipond, swallowing hard, not wanting to give away the spectral fear that ran up and down his spine. Trenglove looked at him and laughed.

  "My good man," he said, "you must be joking."

  "Naturally," said Vipond, lying.

  Trenglove laughed heartily again.

  "To our fortunes, Alfred, and away from this godforsaken place."

  The camel is not known as a fast mammal. Not like the horse. In fact, its disposition is more ornery and it prefers to limp along at a much more leisurely place. Still, to be fair to the camels, they were dragging behind themselves a decent load and the Egyptian heat is oppressive, even at night.

  "We'll keep to the left of the Great Pyramid of Giza," said Trenglove

  He was smiling, in fact Vipond had noticed that his tall, thin friend had a permanent smile plastered to his face since they had climbed onto the camels and started towards the pyramids. His enthusiasm and optimism was contagious and Vipond was starting to think that they might actually find the secret chamber they were looking for.

  The moon was sufficient to give them the light they wanted and needed to find their way. The traveling was easy and steady. The sand of the desert was firm in this area, and flat, and the camels begrudgingly trudged along persuaded by the occasional heel from both Vipond and Trenglove.

  It was around midnight when Trenglove and Vipond rounded the Pyramid of Khafre and saw the Pyramid of Menkaure. They made their way steadily towards the north of it, where the entrance was that led them into the pyramid's interior. This is where they had entered into the bowels of Menkaure before.

  Trenglove stopped the camel several feet away from the entrance, and Vipond came up and halted his camel next to him. It was quiet under the Egyptian moon. They had not seen anyone else around since they had met up with Khaemhet. They got the camels to kneel and climbed off.

  Trenglove and Vipond took a long stake from the saddle and pounded it into the desert sand with mallets. The spike looked much like an armless ankh. They tied the rope from the camel's neck to the loop in the spike.

  "We've been in here before," said Vipond, "I'm not sure what you're hoping to find."

  "I know we've been in here before, but there is one area that I recall from our last excursion that might have held a secret passageway."

  "I don't remember seeing anything to suggest that at all," said Vipond.

  "The upper chamber. I'm sure there must be a hidden door there."

  "But we looked, and Sanehet swore to us that there was nothing at the end of the upper chamber. He had said everyone had looked before."

  Trenglove nodded tersely, while he unpacked his kerosene lantern and lit it.

  "I know what he said, Art, I was there too. I want to have a look myself without any persuasion from the damn guide. Are you coming or are you going to sit out here and pout?"

  Vipond grumbled something under his breath and got his lantern out and lit it. They walked over to the rickety stairs that had been placed on the north side. This was the only entrance that anyone was aware of to get into the pyramid, and the entrance was about twelve feet off the ground.

  Trenglove climbed up first, followed by Vipond. Trenglove ducked into the entrance passageway. It was completely dark, but holding his lantern in front of him gave a slippery and eerie yellow light that moved like a spectra as Trenglove trod down the slight decline of about twenty-five degrees.

  Trenglove was bent forward at the waist as the entrance passageway was a stingy four feet tall. The going was easier for Vipond's shorter height, but it was single file all the way until they reached the paneled chamber where Trenglove could stand upright.

  This chamber had several false doors that Trenglove did his best to open without any success.

  "Walker told me that it was a false door that would lead to riches," said Trenglove, talking to himself.

  Vipond had looked around carefully, but he too had been unable to open any of the false doors.

  "I'm not doubting what he told you, but wouldn't it be too obvious to have this false door right here in the very first chamber. Surely it would have been found out by now if that was the case?"

  Trenglove nodded.

  "I should have paid closer attention, though the old man's memory wasn't as clear as I'd hoped. He said something about the bigger of the three pyramids. He said it was in Menkaure on the south. But Menkaure is the smaller of the three pyramids."

  "Yes, well when you spoke with Walker, it was well over fifty years earlier when he was actually here wasn't he?"

  Trenglove turned to look at his friend and the lantern distorted his features into grotesque shadows.

  "But he seemed so certain."

  Vipond nodded.

  "All right then. Fifty or sixty years is a long time to remember everything with detail. Perhaps he meant to say that the secret chamber was in the smaller of the three pyramids. That has to be, because he mentioned it was in Menkaure several times, right?"

  Trenglove nodded.

  "And let's pretend he meant that this secret chamber was attached at the south end, well, we're heading south, so perhaps we need only continue on. We've tried these false doors before, and they didn't work. Honestly, I think it would just be too easy if it was right here, right at the beginning."

  Trenglove stroked his unshaven chin and then nodded.

  "You make sense, Art. Let's carry on."

  Trenglove continued south through the passageway hunched over, until they emerged into the large antechamber which was rectangular as compared to the paneled chamber's square shape. The shortest length of the antechamber was also longer than the longest side of the paneled chamber. Trenglove and Vipond climbed up into the upper passageway which doubled back just above the passage
way they had used to first enter into the antechamber.

  Almost a third of the way back towards the paneled room, the upper passageway rose at approximately twenty-five degrees, heading towards the entrance. Trenglove and Vipond, both hunched over, with Trenglove leading climbed this upper passageway as they had done before. Below them would be the paneled chamber, and the passageway continued on for several feet, until it abruptly came to an end.

  Trenglove stopped with Vipond behind him. There was barely enough room for the two of them to stand hunched over, side by side. It was quite uncomfortable.

  "Hold my lantern," said Trenglove, "so I can get a better look of what's going on up here."

  "Nothing's going on up there," answered Vipond, only slightly exasperated.

  "Just hold the bloody lanterns so I can see what's going on," said Trenglove, clearly losing his cool.

  Vipond kneeled down and held onto the lanterns as Trenglove reached up and in front of him, trying to explore the end of this passageway. It ended almost abruptly, though there was what appeared to be a shelf which was horizontal to the ground. Trenglove climbed up into it, and lying down he searched deeply into the end of it, but he couldn't see very well.

  He wormed his way out and turned around to Vipond.

  "Hand me my lantern."

  Vipond gave him the lantern and Trenglove crawled back into the furthest end of this wedge. There was nothing there, not even very much pink granite which had adorned the walls of most of the rest of the interior of this pyramid.

  Trenglove crawled back out on his hands and knees. He stopped at the end of this shelf and stood up. Vipond was just below him. Trenglove could stand tall here as in front of him was another open chunk that was cut like a square at an almost forty-five degree angle to the passageway that sloped downwards from where he stood.

  Trenglove took his lantern and held it up high. He could reach inside almost all of this additional excavated end of the passageway, but there was nothing there. He held his lantern up and moved it from side to side. Nothing seemed to give any hope that there was a secret passageway from this angle. Worse than that, if there was, he wasn't sure how they would get into it. The wall was smooth and gave not hint of any cracks or fissures. Trenglove cursed under his breath.

  "Nothing there?" asked Vipond.

  Trenglove didn't look at him.

  "Bloody hell, where can it be?" he asked to no one in particular.

  "Why don't we head down into the burial chamber and see if there aren't any clues in there?"

  "Very well."

  Trenglove took his lantern and bowed down as he squeezed past Vipond and headed back down towards the antechamber. They walked the rest of the way in silence. Inside the antechamber, Trenglove led them down a narrow corridor that was in the center of the chamber and led quickly to a horizontal hallway off the right of which was a smaller room, that Walker had called the cellar.

  Trenglove walked right past and on into the main burial chamber which was the largest chamber of all. It was about twenty feet long by eight feet wide and reached ten feet high. Trenglove stood and stretched out his hands. The room was empty except for a small platform upon which, it was said, held the sarcophagus that Richard Vyse had supposedly found, which later sank in the Mediterranean.

  Trenglove paced up and down, stopping every few feet to touch the wall and run his fingertips up and down it. He moved his lantern around and looked up at the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were of pink granite, smooth as cottage cheese, and slight mottled like it. But there was no indication of secret doors to secret chambers.

  Vipond helped in the search, and spent a great deal of time kneeling and touching the granite platform. He felt for any telltale signs of cracks or openings. It was against the long side of the wall, but nothing seemed to indicate a secret passageway at all.

  "What did Walker say about where this secret passageway would be?" asked Vipond.

  "Something about under the sleeping pharaoh the guards stood watch. Something like that," said Trenglove.

  "That's it," said Vipond, "I think I've got it. This must be where the treasure lies."

  "Where?" asked Trenglove, looking at him with an arched eyebrow.

  "Here, under here," said Vipond, stamping his foot upon the granite platform. "This is where the sarcophagus of the pharaoh was, was it not?"

  Trenglove nodded.

  "Apparently."

  "Well, help me slide this granite down there. Perhaps the secret passageway to the chamber is just under here."

  Trenglove smiled and walked over to where Vipond was.

  "Sometimes I'm glad I brought you along, Art," he said.

  At the far end of this burial chamber, away from the entrance they had come from, was a small platform that took up the width of the chamber. It was a few feet from the platform that had previously held the sarcophagus.

  Trenglove and Vipond braced their feet against this end platform and with both their hands they pushed against the platform they were trying to move. It didn't budge.

  "All right," said Trenglove, "let's be smart about this. Let's try and push it on three. I'll count. One, two, three."

  They both dug in and pushed with all their might for several seconds. The platform wouldn't budge.

  "Maybe it's just too heavy," offered Vipond.

  "Maybe you just weren't correct," suggested Trenglove, snarkily.

  Vipond tried to push again, but Trenglove didn't help him.

  "Okay smart aleck, you tell me where this bloody chamber is then," said Vipond, also now losing his cool.

  Trenglove looked around the room once more. He knew he had checked out every last nook and cranny. There was nothing there. What had he overlooked? What had he missed?

  "The last place we haven't looked is in the cellar," said Trenglove. "I want us to take a look in there."

  Trenglove strode out of the burial chamber and back into the passageway and then he turned left into the cellar. Vipond took off after him. It was one of the smaller rooms. It appeared to be a little over half the length of the burial chamber and a little over half the width. There were six niches cut into this cellar, and they were not quite wide enough to fit a man without having to turn slightly. Four niches ran equally spaced along the length and two niches were equally spaced at the far end.

  "We've already looked in here," said Vipond.

  He didn't like the darkness and the small spaces inside the chambers and passageways. He wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but he was finding that the more often he went into the bowels of the pyramid, the more he realized how much he preferred the outdoors. The somewhat dank and musty smell was not something that he found particularly pleasing either.

  "I know we've looked in here already," said Trenglove, "but that was with the annoying, nosy, and always in your way Sanehet. I want to look without any distractions... including you."

  Vipond stood, hunched over at the entrance to the cellar while Trenglove, also hunched over, took his time peering into each niche and gently caressing the walls as if he were somewhere private with a beautiful woman. He was looking for any telltale signs that might offer a clue as to something hidden just behind the walls. He found none. He cursed and slapped his hand against the inside of one of the far niches.

  Trenglove walked back towards Vipond, still hunched over, holding his lantern in his hand fully extended down towards the side of his knee. It made him look very much like Quasimodo. He brushed past Vipond rudely.

  "Maybe you were right," he sneered, "maybe Walker did lie to me."

  Vipond followed Trenglove out of the cellar and along the hallway and then up the corridor back into the antechamber. Without stopping, Trenglove continued down the hallway towards the paneled chamber, his lantern swaying up and down by his side, causing his shadow to leap past him and then retreat behind him like an annoying schoolboy. Vipond kept up.

  Trenglove entered the paneled chamber and exited it just as quickly as he entered. He walked as fast as h
e could, while hunched over, up the remaining incline of the last passageway until he made it out onto the platform right in front of the pyramid. He clambered down the stairs, and as he got to the ground he kicked at the sand and cursed again. He wanted to throw his lantern up against the damned pyramid and burn it to the ground. He knew it wouldn't only be a waste of a lantern but foolish as well. Stone didn't burn, but he really wanted it to.

  Vipond came down the stairs and stood off to the side. If he knew one thing, it was to let Trenglove blow off some steam before suggesting any sort of alternatives.

  "I'll kill him, I swear I'll kill him for lying to me," spat Trenglove.

  Vipond knew exactly who he was talking about. He wouldn't mind killing the lying bastard himself, though he realized they were taking a gamble. Vipond walked back towards the camels which were on the northeast side of the pyramid. He walked past them, lost in thought and then turned towards the south. There was nothing else out there except for some crumbling pyramids. Three small ones. The tallest one perhaps half the height of the Pyramid of Menkaure. The distance between the three small pyramids was only seventy feet or so.

  Vipond walked back towards the camels and looked out over the mortuary temple, a scrabble of crumbled walls and stones, long ago pilfered, and much of its beauty now lost to antiquity. He turned his attention to Trenglove who took one last kick at the sand before starting to walk back towards the camels with his head bowed.

  Trenglove didn't say anything to his companion, he just climbed the camel and brought the beast up from kneeling. He looked down at Vipond with disappointment and anger all over his face like a mask of pain.

  "All right," he said, his voice soft and somber as if he were sharing a secret, "I'll admit it. You were right and I was wrong. Walker was a liar and a scoundrel. I guess there is no secret chamber here. So let's get going. We're finished."