by Wilbur Smith
cabinet. The spots had been placed so that there was no reflection from
the glass window to distract the eye, and the beams brought out the full
glory of the double crown and the golden death-mask of Mamose.
He poured whisky into a crystal glass, and while he sipped it he
savoured the thrill of ownership. But after a while he knew there was
something missing. He picked up the Taita ushabd from the desk in front
of him, and spoke to it as though he were addressing the subject
himself.
"You knew the real meaning of loneliness, didn't you?" he asked softly.
"You knew what it was like to love someone you could never have."
He set down the statuette and picked up the telephone. He dialled an
international number and it rang three times before a man answered in
Arabic.
"This is the office of the Director of Antiquities. How may I help you?"
"Is Dr Al Simma available?" he asked in the same language.
"Please hold the line. I am putting you through!
"Dr Al Simma." Her voice sent an electric thrill down his spine.
"Royan," he said, and he could sense her shock in the long silence that
followed.
"You!" she whispered. 11 did not think I would ever hear from you
again."
"I just rang to congratulate you on your appointment."
"You cheated me," she said. "You switched the contents of three of the
crates."
"As a wise man once said, friends are the easiest to cheat they don't
expect it. You, of all people, should know the truth of that, Royan."
"You have sold them, of course. I have heard a rumour that Peter Walsh
paid twenty million." 4- "Thirty million," Nicholas corrected her. "But
only for the blue and the Nemes. Even as I speak to you, the red and
white crown and the death-mask repose before me."
"So now you can pay off your Lloyd's insurance losses.
You must be very relieved."
"You won't believe this, but the Lloyd's syndicate on which I am a Name
has come up with much better results than were forecast. I wasn't really
broke after all."
"As my mother would say, "Bully for you."' "Half of it has already gone
to Mek Nimmur and Tessay."
"At least that is a good cause." Her tone tingled with hostility. "Is
that all you called to tell me?"
"No. There's something else that might amuse you.
Your favourite author, Wilbur Smith, has agreed to write the story of
our discovery of the tomb. He is calling the book The Seventh ScroU. It
should be published early next year. I will send you a signed copy."
"I hope he gets his facts straight this time," she said drily.
They were both silent for a while, before Royan broke it "I have a
mountain of work in front of me. If there is nothing else on your mind-'
"As a matter of fact there is."
"Yes?"
"I would like you to marry me."
He heard her draw breath sharply, and then after a long pause she asked
softly, "Why would you want anything so unlikely?"
"Because I have come to realize how much I love you." She was silent
again, and then she said in a small voice, "All right."
"What do you mean, "All right'T
"I mean, all right, I will marry you."
"Why would you agree to anything so unlikely?" he asked.
"Because I have come to realize, despite everything, how much I love you
back."
"There is an Air Egypt flight from Heathrow at 5.30 this afternoon. If I
drive like fury, I may just make it. But it gets me into Cairo rather
late."
"I will be waiting at the airport, no matter how late."
"I am on my way!" Nicholas hung up, and went to the door, but suddenly
he turned back and picked up the the Taita ushabti from the desk.
"Come on, you old rogue." He laughed triumphantly.
"You are going home, as a wedding gift."
EPILOGUE
which, -in the mauve evening.
They strolled along the corn Below them the Nile ran on eternally green
and slow and inscrutable, disposing of the secrets of the ages. At the
bank, below the ruins of the temple of point on the river once the great
barge of Pharaoh Ramesses at Luxor, where Mamose had docked with Taita
and his beloved mistress upon her prow, they paused for a while and
leaned upon ining wall. They gazed out to the coping of the stone reta
the darkening hills across the river. the funerary temple Time had long
since obliterated other' kings had and the great causeway of Mamose, and
ver the foundations. No man built their own monuments red the tomb that
he had never occupied, had ever discover ted close to the secret opening
but it must have been situa gh which Duraid Al Simma. had entered in the
rock thrOu ered there the scrolls of Taita the tomb of Lostris and
discover in their alabaster jars.
silent in the gathering dusk, the'
All four of them were firm friendship. They watched a cruise shared
silence the tourists clustered upon boat pass coming upriver wi her
decks, still agog after ten days of voyaging from Cairo on these
enigmatic waters, pointing out to each other the great pylons and
engraved walls of Ramesses temple, their ntial in the hush of th all and
inconseque excited voices sm desert evening slipped her arm through
Tessay's and Then Royan alked on ahead. They made a lovely pair, the two
women wand honey-skinned, their laughter gay slim and young ads ruffling
in the sultry Puffs Of and sweet, their dark he and Mek immur Saharan
air off the desert. Nichola followed them, each watching his own woman
fondly as they bantered.
"So now you are one of the fatcats, in Addis, you, the hard man, the
bush fighter, you are now a politician. I can hardly believe it, mek.,
"There is a time to fight and a time to make peace." Mek was serious for
a moment, but Nicholas mocked him " 11 lightly.
"I see that now that you are a politician you have to practise your
cliches and your platitudes." Nicholas punched his arm lightly. "But how
did you swing it, Mek?
>From dirty shufta bandit to Minister of Defence in one mighty bound."
"The money from the sale of the blue crown helped a little. It gave me
the clout I needed," Mek admitted, "but they knew they could never hold
a democratic election without me as a candidate. In the end they were
eager to have me on board."
"The only quibble I have with the deal is that you handed all that
lovely hard-won lolly over to them," Nicholas mourned. "Hell, Mek,
fifteen million iron men don't come along every day."
"I didn't hand it to them," Mek corrected him. "It was paid into the
state coffers, where I can keep an eye on what eventually happens to
it."
"Still, fifteen mill is a lot of bread," Nicholas sighed.
"Try as I might, I cannot approve of such extravagance, but I must admit
-Lat I do approve of your choice of running mate in your bid for the
Presidency in the coming elections."
They both looked at Tessay's slim back and bush of springing black curls
as she strode along ahead of them on shapely brown legs under the white
skirt.
"I may not
approve of you as Minister of Defence, but I can see that she
makes a very charming Minister of Culture and Tourism in the interim
government."
"She will make an even more impressive Vice-President when we win next
August," Mek predicted easily, and at that moment Royan looked back over
her shoulder at them.
"We'll cross the road here," she called. Nicholas had been so engrossed
that he had not realized they had come up opposite to the new annexe to
the Luxor Museum of Antiquities. The two women waited for them to catch
up and then they separated and each of them took the arm of her own
husband.
As they crossed the wide boulevard, threading their way between the slow
clip-clopping horse-drawn gharries, Nicholas leaned down and brushed her
cheek with his lips. "You are really quite delectable, Lady Quenton
Harper."
"You make me blush, Sir Nicky," she giggled. "You know that I am still
not used to being called that."
They reached the other side of the thoroughfare and paused before the
entrance to the museum annexe. The sloping roof was supported by tall
hypostyle columns, miniature copies of those at the temple of Karnak.
The walls were made of massive blocks of yellow sandstone, and the lines
of the building were clean and simple. It was very impressive.
Royan led them to the entrance doors of the museum, which was not yet
open to the public. The President was flying up on Monday for the
official opening, and Mek and Tessay were to be the official
representatives of the Ethiopian government at the opening ceremony. The
guards at the door saluted Royan respectfully and hurried to open the
heavy brass-bound doors to let them pass.
The interior was hushed and cool, the air conditioning arefully
regulated to preserve the ancient exhibits.
The display cases were built into the sandstone walls, and the lighting
was subtle and artful. it showed off the wondrous treasures of the
Mamose funerary hoard to full advantage. The exhibits, arranged in
ascending order of beauty and archaeological importance, sparkled and
glowed in their nests of blue satin, the royal blue of the Pharaoh
Mamose.
The four visitors were quiet and reverential as they passed, their
voices soft and subdued as they asked questions of Royan. Wonder and
amazement held them enthralled. They paused at the entrance of the final
chamber, the one that housed the most extraordinary and valuable items
in this glittering collection.
"To think that this is only a small part of what treasure still remains
in Mamose's tomb, sealed by the waters of the Dandera river," whispered
Tessay. "It's so exciting that I can hardly wait for the adventure to
continue."
"I forgot to tell you!" Mek exclaimed, and it was clear from his
triumphant grin that he had not forgotten at all, but had been merely
waiting for the appropriate moment to impart his news. "The Smithsonian
have confirmed their grant to redarn the Dandera and reopen the tomb. It
will be a joint venture between the Institution and the governments of
our two countries, Egypt and Ethiopia."
"That is wonderful news," Royan exclaimed delightedly.
"The tomb itself will be one of the great archaeological sites of the
world, and a huge source of tourist revenue for Ethiopia-'
"Not so fast," Mek interrupted her. "There is one condition that they
stipulate."
Royan looked crestfallen. "What is their condition?"
"They insist that you, Royan, take'on the job of director of the
project."
She clapped her hands with delight, and then put on a mock-serious
expression. "However, I have my own condition before I accept," she
said.
"And what is that?" Mek demanded.
"That I am able to appoint my own assistant on the dig-' MW
Mek let out a roar of laughter. "We all know who that will be." And he
clapped Nicholas on the back. "Just make sure that none of the artefacts
cling to his sticky little fingers!" he warned.
Royan hugged Nicholas around the waist. "He has completely reformed, I
will now give you final proof of that." Still clinging to her husband,
she led them into the last chamber.
Mek and Tessay stopped in the entrance, silent with awe as they stared
at the contents of the free-standing display case of annoured glass in
the centre of the room, The red and white crown of the united kingdoms
of upper and lower Egypt stood side by side with the glistening golden
death-mask of Pharaoh Mamose in the brilliant light of the overhead
spotlights.
At last Mek Nimmur recovered from the shock.
Advancing slowly to the front panel of the display case, he stooped to
read aloud the brass plate fixed to the front of it: "'The Permanent
loan of Sir Nicholas and Lady Quenton, Harper."'
He turned back to stare at Nicholas incredulously.
"And you were the one who picked on me for turning over the money from
the sale of the blue crown!" he accused him. "How could you bring
yourself to give up your share of the loot, Nicholas?"
"It wasn't easy," Nicholas admitted with a sigh, "but I was faced with a
delicate ultimatum from a certain party who is not standing a million
miles away from us at this very moment."
"Don't feel too sorry for the poor boy," Royan laughed.
"He still has a big lump of Peter Walsh's money tucked away in
Switzerland, the proceeds of the sale of the Nemes crown. I was unable
to talk him into handing everything over."
"Enough of these public disclosures of my domestic affairs, said
Nicholas firmly. "The sun is long gone, and it's whisky time. I think I
saw a bottle of Laphroaig behind the bar at the hotel, Let's go and find
out if I was mistaken." He took Royan's arm and led her away, and the
other two followed closely, laughing delightedly at his discomfort.
FB2 document info
Document ID: afad7026-5e18-46e2-ab0f-57443a0f2daa
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 8.4.2012
Created using: calibre 0.8.10 software
Document authors :
Wilbur Smith
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