Lexin's Quest (Knights of Kismera Book 2)

by Tamara H Hartl

  Mike put his hands on her shoulders and absently kneaded, feeling the tension racking her. “What do you want to do now, Mags?”

  “What I want to do is commit murder and hide the body, but I’m not sure which ass to off first,” she grumbled with a trace of her normal spunk. “And I’m not that interested in rotting in an Egyptian prison.”

  “Hope I’m not on the list of asses,” Mike returned, giving one of her shoulders a gentle pat and then moving to the front of the desk. He righted his chair and resumed his perch.

  Gazing blindly at the side of the tent, Maggie leaned back in her own chair. “No, you’re not on the list. It’s Hugh and Ted. Mostly Ted.” She turned to face Mike. “You’re just the messenger. Besides, you’re supposed to be beside me when I’m committing this crime.”

  She picked up her pencil and began to tap it against the desk top as she thought. “I think the first thing to do is download all my notes and photos of this dig, delete them from the hard drive and lock up the USB.” Her pencil tapped faster.

  Maggie looked up at Mike and idly stroked her braid with one hand as she contemplated her next moves. “If we stall looking for anything serious maybe Ted will get bored and go back to the states.”

  “We haven’t found anything serious yet for him to get hold of,” Mike replied.

  Maggie shot him an exasperated look. “Not yet, but we will. If I can just be patient until he gives up and leaves. I don’t think I’ll make him feel very welcome.”

  “Just don’t let yourself be alone with him,” Mike warned. The reason he had been hired in the first place was to protect Maggie from Ted after Ted had stolen all her notes from a site of a pharaoh’s favorite wife, one Maggie had quite literally fallen into and then done considerable research. Ted Maxwell had been her boyfriend at the time, as well as her dig partner from the museum. He had also physically abused her but she had never given Mike the details of in what way or how badly.

  “I won’t. Damn this just pisses me off.” She slapped the table and turned to her computer, already pulling up files to download. “Anything you have on this dig needs to be locked up. Can you check down in the tomb that we haven’t left anything lying around?”

  “I’m on it, boss,” he said as he climbed to his feet. He put his hands on the table and leaned toward her. “I’ve got your back, Mags.”

  She looked up at him, her face flushed. “I know, Mike. Thanks.”

  Ted Maxwell stepped from the rented Land Rover at the entrance to the dig site. There was a sign that read NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT. It was repeated beneath in Arabic. He tucked the keys into the front pocket of his khaki pants and slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, taking the case that held his laptop in his free hand.

  Ted was slightly built and thin, but quite handsome with short dark blond hair and hazel eyes. At five-nine he wasn’t much taller than a lot of the men who watched him walk across to the tent where the lady boss kept her office.

  The tent flap was open. He didn’t give any notice of his presence before he entered.

  “Hello Magdalene,” he greeted her when she looked up startled with his sudden appearance.

  Maggie fought to control the panic that threatened, creeping up her spine in tingling waves. She pushed it back and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. Thank god she had known he was coming or she never would have been able to pull it off.

  “Ted,” she returned blandly, leaning back in her chair.

  He casually walked around the desk to put a hand on the back of her chair and leaned over her shoulder to peer at her computer screen. “Put the red seven on the black eight,” he informed. “I must say I see why I was asked to visit this site. Solitaire, Maggie? Really?”

  He moved away from her then to go to the front of the desk and perch a hip on the top of it. “So where’s your watchdog?”

  Maggie sat back in her chair. “Mike?”

  At Ted’s cool nod, she answered. “He is making sure that a tent is ready for your stay. I trust that is alright?” If he could be cool, she thought, she would be ice.

  Ted looked idly at the well manicured nails on one of his hands. “What about the other one?”

  “What other one?” she asked, not quite hiding her confusion.

  “Big white guy, long hair. Rather a primitive sort. I’m guessing a boyfriend?”

  What the… Maggie thought. “You’ve met Drace?”

  “Yes, although I wouldn’t say it was a pleasure. I thought him quite rude. I never imagined you would go for the rugged, bad boy sort,” Ted said with a slight sneer.

  “Jealous much?” Maggie snipped back. “Drace is a very intelligent, talented man,” she informed and stood, feeling the beginnings of the uncertainty Ted always managed to instill in her.

  “And for your information, he’s not here at the moment, but he’s due back anytime.” She went around the table and out of the tent, not looking back to see if Ted was following her.

  “So he’s what in regard to this dig?” Ted’s voice was right behind her.

  Maggie stopped in front of an empty tent that could barely hold the small cot and box table Mike had installed. She gestured for him to enter.

  Once he had laid his bag and laptop on the cot, she answered his question. “He’s the money.”

  Ted looked at her with a frown. “I thought you were funding this project.”

  “I am. It’s our money. Drace has given me a practically unending check. I wouldn’t piss him off if I were you.”

  Ted blanched a bit. The one time he had actually been in Drace’s company, the man threatened him. He was big enough and had made the statement with enough conviction that Ted wanted to stay well clear of him. Changing the subject seemed the wisest choice at the moment.

  “So when will I get a tour of what you have found so far?”

  “Let me find Mike and some gear and we can go down now if you like,” she answered and started moving before he could say anything else.

  Ted watched her walk away as he brushed at his pressed blue oxford shirt and then rolled up the sleeves. In only a few moments Maggie was walking back toward him, Mike right behind her with a canvas bag slung over his shoulder.

  “Ted,” Mike greeted with a look that spoke volumes. Watch yourself, it said.

  “Mike,” Ted replied. The two men had never met but both knew each other by reputation.

  Mike shoved a hard hat with a light on it at Ted with a bit more force than necessary, along with an extra flashlight. After the three were outfitted, Maggie led the way into the dig through a small hole in the ground.

  Once down a ladder, they carefully walked along a stone-lined tunnel for several feet until it ended at a T. Maggie shined her light to the right showing a small room that once held jars full of items intended for the afterlife. Nothing remained except a pair of broken jars, their spilt grain long since rotted, and a few scattered beads.

  Maggie turned to the left and trekked down a steep narrow tunnel. “Watch your head,” she warned as she ducked under a low overhang. At barely five-four, it was low even for her. Ted had to crouch to enter. Mike gave a grunt of effort as he wedged his big frame through the doorway.

  The burial chamber of a priest had been stripped of everything except its hieroglyphics and one lone jar so large it could not be taken through the small door.

  Ted carefully touched the rim of the jar. “How in the world did they get this in here?” he mused, walking around it in a studious fashion.

  “That’s one of the puzzles I have been working on,” Maggie told him and gave the room a sweeping turn with her flashlight. “Just the glyphs in here, and that urn. There were marks on the floor where a stone table had been. How the robbers got that out we probably will never know, or even why they took it.”

  She turned to Ted and saw him against one wall, studying the hieroglyphics.

  “What god did this priest represent?” he asked, leaning in to see the
marks more clearly.

  “I first thought it was Khons, the moon god, but there is only reference to him, not a direct tie. I’m still trying to figure it out. I think this was a priest to a god that was obscure and probably wasn’t a major player.”

  Actually she had translated enough to know exactly what god he had worshipped, one that was hidden from the Egyptian people, but one that had special meaning to Maggie. She had discovered who the god was and who the people were who worshipped him to this very day. Even Mike didn’t know all the details. She had been waiting for more proof than what she had to make any claim.

  “Are there any more corridors off this one?” Ted asked. “This priest wasn’t held in much regard if this is all there is of his tomb. It’s too simple for a high ranking individual.”

  He shined around the room once more. “Tomorrow I’ll get a spotlight down here and take a closer look.”

  Irritation ran through Maggie. “You’re forgetting your place, Ted. My dig, my way. The heat from a big light could ruin the paint on the glyphs. No way.”

  Ted straightened and moved toward Maggie but Mike moved in between them. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” he said and stared the smaller man down.

  Ted took a step back. “Whatever,” he managed. “I’m beat from the flight out so I’m going to call it a day.” He gestured in front of him for the two to precede him. “After you.”

  Once out of the tomb passageway, Maggie watched Ted as he got to his tent and went inside. “Damn,” she cursed under her breath.

  “Got that right,” Mike murmured next to her. “Now what?”

  Maggie glanced at him and then back to where Ted had disappeared into the tent. “I wish I knew.”

  First and foremost, I want to thank my husband Ritch and my daughters, Jenn and Cassidy. They are the ones who are the most impacted by the time that it takes to write and develop a book. Many thanks and much love for putting up with me when I go into a writing coma.

  Thank yous go out to the rest of my family and my friends for indulging me when I ask for them to read manuscripts and give their input. And for being kind if it’s negative.

  There are not enough ways to say thank you to Melissa Thompson, one of my very best friends from waaaayyy back, for website development, setting up a Facebook page, etc. They say patience is a virtue, and you are virtuous indeed for putting up with all my tech questions. You are awesome and I love you.

  Mindy Reed, editor-in-chief and the woman who started this journey with me, Danielle Hartman Acee, project manager and social media guru, and Rebecca Byrd Arthur, cover designer extraordinaire: Thank you all so much for your talents and guidance.

  Thank you for all those who read the first book, Dark Lord of Kismera, and asked for more. Here’s to all of you!

  Award winning author Tamara H. Hartl has published Dark Lord of Kismera, the first book in the Knights of Kismera series.Her short story “The Lady’s Profit” is featured in the anthology Short Stories by Texas Authors.

  Tamara was born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. She moved to Texas to begin her career as a horse trainer and farm manager for an Arabian horse breeder. She now works for a different owner of Arabians and Arab-cross show horses in the same capacity. Horses figure prominently in her writing.

  She is a wife, mother of two daughters and a caretaker of a menagerie of rescue animals.

  She enjoys a good book and spending time with her own horses.