by C J Turner
Towards the end, she would have given anything to block them out.
In the dreams, Alice could see and hear and smell but she herself could neither be seen nor heard and she was forced to watch Tameri’s brutal murder and Kenna’s destruction, impotent and powerless to prevent the tragic outcome. The final scene left an overwhelming feeling of despair and great sadness, but that appeared to be the finish. As time went on and Alice was forced to conclude that the dreams were finally over, she felt let down, as if she had nearly reached the end of an enthralling book and someone had removed the last few pages.
However, Alice knew that the story of the lovers was not over.
She decided to write the story down with all the detail she could remember in the form of a loose leaved manuscript and when it was finished, she had felt a great sense of release and knew that at last she was ready to take up her life again.
‘That was over ten years ago, but when I saw Blake unwrap the dagger, I recognized it straight away and that’s what gave me such a shock.’ She finished, for the first time looking up and directly into the faces of her audience, not sure what their reaction would be to this extraordinary tale.
No one mentioned that it was her conviction that she had seen fresh dripping blood on the dagger’s blade thad had been so shocking, but it was certainly at the forefront of one or two of the minds present.
Amunet rose to sit by her side, firmly taking the older woman’s hand in her own, as she took up the tale again.
‘Alice felt it was important that I read the manuscript but there was no opportunity to do so before we were due to leave, so I agreed to take it back with me to Egypt.’
Alice, looking down at her toes, interposed in a low voice.
‘I hoped that once Amunet had read what had happened to me, she would be able to make the connection between the past and the present and that somehow, she would know what had to be done.’
Resolutely, she looked up at Blake and met his harsh expression squarely. ‘I also thought that this would bring some catharsis to her and put an end to the nightmares. She was obviously dreaming of the same events that I had seen myself years earlier. I cannot explain that, but lust and love are powerful forces and I believe can drive events even from the grave, if the motivation is strong enough. I know you will not agree with me but at least believe this. I did not think for one moment that there was any real danger to Amunet and you cannot possibly blame me more than I blame myself for putting her at risk!’
Actually, Blake was far from blaming Alice for anything, he was too busy berating himself for not telling her about Amunet’s episode with the dagger that night when she had tried to turn it on herself. Alice would have been forewarned, and may have confided in him earlier if he had not been so pig-headed.
Amunet, who had also noticed the look on her husband’s face, but misread the cause, swiftly took up the cudgels in her friend’s defense.
‘But Alice, you were not to know about Mustaf! Tell her, Blake. Of course, he does not blame you! In fact it would have been far better if he and Max had listened to you in the first place when you tried to tell them of these things – that is what comes of too much learning and not enough imagination to know that once in a while, something can happen that has no logical explanation!’
Hameeda nodded and looked across at both men accusingly, her lips pursed in disapproval. Max shifted uncomfortably and Blake opened his mouth to protest but Amunet shushed him.
‘No, let us finish and then you can have your say!’
She quickly went on tell them about her epiphany after reading the manuscript, and how, before she could get back to tell them what had to be done, Mustaf had kidnapped her. Briefly she skated over her ordeal, but confirmed that Mustaf had boasted of murdering Lalage. Alice’s hand crept to her mouth in consternation, Hameeda gasped, Max looked grim, and her husband watched her impassively.
‘And then Khalid must have managed to open the wall from the other side and appeared, muttering some gibberish, and frightening the life out of Mustaf. The old man had obviously recovered from Ahmed’s shot but he was in a bad way, I think, and completely insane. I threw the dagger at him and he fell back into the inner chamber, possibly his fall activated the mechanism in some way because the wall started to close again and Mustaf darted through the gap. So they were both caught in the explosion when Blake blew up that hateful place, and I am very happy that he did!’ Amunet finished simply.
Hameeda knew her niece and guessed that there was more to the story than this but she never brought the subject up again, certain in her own mind that her daughter’s death had been fittingly revenged. One thing, however, she did want to know.
‘But how did the dagger get into the box of papers?’ she asked in mystified accents.
Blake was now allowed to explain that he had noticed the sturdy box that Amunet insisted on taking with them to Egypt, and had decided that it would make an excellent hiding place for the dagger!
Of course, the talk went on all evening, but more than one person felt a distinct feeling of relief when the conversation became more general. Eventually Hameeda remembered her cooking pots and made them all stop while they did justice to her superb meal. Max disclosed his intention of flying on to Crete to resume his abandoned holiday, and Hameeda invited Alice to stay with her for a while when Blake and Amunet returned to England.
However, at least one person was still not satisfied.
‘Well, I still can’t make head nor tail of some of this!’ protested a much aggrieved Max, later that evening. He and Blake still lingered on the roof enjoying the cooler air of the evening, while the ladies had disappeared downstairs to settle Alice in.
‘I mean, as I see it, that dagger has caused everybody who has come near it, to act in a totally alien manner to their normal behaviour. Right from the beginning, Na’ill never told you that he had found it, which was not like him, and died because he would not give it up to Ahmed. Ghalida betrayed her family in order to steal it for Mustaf and paid for that with her life. And we both saw it in Ahmed’s back, whether you care to admit it or not! I admit that I had assumed that it must have been you who had thrown it, but if you did not, who did?’ He looked curiously at Blake, who had shot him a sharp look from suddenly narrowed eyes, and went on thoughtfully.
‘In fact, now I come to think about it, it was not at all like Alice to forget about the parcel and leave it in her car for all that time - that in itself I find highly improbable!
Blake shrugged and looked away and Max continued in a pensive ‘you are not answering but I am going to carry on anyway’ voice.
‘Lalage was murdered when it was in her possession. Amunet has been in danger several times because of the dratted thing. Finally, it appears to have been the downfall of both Khalid and Mustaf. As for you - you have not said much at all, which I find puzzling.’
‘What do you mean?’ Blake dragged his gaze from the far horizon and stared at his interrogator irritably.
‘You tell me!’ Max expostulated, uncharacteristically put out. ‘I just know that there are too many unanswered questions and I seem to be the only one interested in finding out the answers! For instance, that night when you found Amunet with the dagger, I never told you, but I had locked it in your safe myself before we went out and Amunet certainly did not know the combination!’
‘Well, so what? My wife is incredibly talented, a little thing like a safe wouldn’t stop her, she’s probably quite capable of picking a lock!’
‘Maybe so, but why should she want to? She refused to touch the thing when Alice first brought the dagger out. There is too much here unexplained, and I know you too well to believe that you are willing to go along with Alice’s preposterous theory!’
Blake looked at Max, an odd expression in his eyes.
‘What’s your interpretation, then?’ he asked slowly, ignoring Max’s earlier remarks.
‘Well, good heavens, with all due respect to Alice, admirable woman that sh
e is, we do not believe that farrago of nonsense, do we? I accept that she genuinely believes it to be true, but I ask you! Brendan was with you the night you found Naa’il and Ahmed was arrested – he probably knew all about the tomb, you know how impossible it is to keep something like that quiet - and he would have told Alice all about it. After he died, Alice was distraught and I think it quite likely that brooding over the past, she only thought that she had dreamt the story of Kenna and Tameri. With Amunet babbling away in ancient Egyptian, setting the scene as it were, the appearance of the dagger triggered the whole thing off again!’
Max leaned forward, his earlier irritation replaced by unease. ‘And Blake, all that hokum you told me when I came home and found you in bed with Amunet, I swallowed it at the time but really! You said yourself that you had sank a few drinks that night - admit that you were just trying to divert me with the special effects – I assure you I won’t hold a grudge, knowing now how you feel about her, I can hardly blame you!’
Blake looked away from Max’s earnest expression as if he feared what Max might see in his own face. The desire to confide and receive Max’s commonsense response was overwhelming. But Blake sensed the other man’s unease and knew that the truthful answers to Max’s questions would not bring reassurance to his friend, far from it. He was still loathe to discuss the ugly scene he had witnessed in the tomb, vaguely feeling that he would never rid his mind of it, once put into words.
Max could not know of course, but for the first time in his life Blake had come up against something that all his intellect and instincts could not reject as impossible. The Professor could not explain what had happened to his own satisfaction, nor subject it to his usual uncompromising logic, but he would not easily forget what he had seen when the wall of the tomb had moved slowly back.
Blake had been determined to put an end to Mustaf one way or another. If there was no way that Blake could get in – then he was going to make damn sure that Mustaf would never get out! He remembered the treacherous flare of excitement at the thought of an intact tomb just feet away from where he stood, and the split second of hesitation at the thought of obliterating such a discovery. But the resolve to destroy the person who had lifted his hand against Amunet seared all thoughts of archaeology out of his mind. Then what he had seen beyond the great granite barrier had made it even more imperative that he destroy the tomb, once and for all.
For Max, who as uncomplicated and straightforward as they come, everything fell into two categories – right or wrong, black or white. It would not be fair or right to cast him into the quagmire of shifting sands where Blake stood beleagued every time he recalled those last few moments in Menkheperne’s last resting place. The snarling growls that had drowned out the whimpering screams, the strong rank smell of a large feral animal…no he was not likely to forget that in a hurry – try as he might.
There on the roof terrace staring at the hills that now thankfully had gathered their secrets into the dark, Blake made a decision. He accepted that there were some things that he would never be able to explain or forget, but at least he could give his friend the gift of a quiet mind. He owed Max that much.
‘You appear to be arguing against yourself, Max.’ Blake said in his driest tone. ‘First you seem to be hypothesizing that there are unseen forces at work, then you have just expounded a very logical explanation. I know which version has my vote! So, I don’t think I have to admit to anything,’ he finished with an effort at jocularity. ‘Think what you like Max, you know what they say, all’s fair in love and war.’
‘I knew it!’ Max exclaimed triumphantly, ‘Feeding me all that tripe and expecting me to fall for it! Now you have decided to come clean, you can tell me who you saw and what really happened when you were in the tomb, I have a strong feeling that you were keeping something back there as well!’
‘Nothing happened. That is, not until I blew the place up - and there was no one in the chamber, not a living soul.’
Blake shrugged and determinedly pushed the past firmly away where it belonged.
‘I am sorry Max, but the most important thing for me in all this is Amunet’s well being. You have seen for yourself the change in her – she is well, she is happy, and she is sleeping again without fear. She has laid all her ghosts to rest and I will not do, or say, anything that might put her in jeopardy again. I am not looking for answers Max, I am not even sure that I know the questions anymore!’
Max sighed resignedly. “Well, of course, I can see what you mean, I would not for the world upset Amunet, she has been through enough, but…”
The two men looked at each other steadily, and whatever else Max had been going to say, remained unsaid.
‘Yes, of course – there is always the but,’ Blake looked across at Max and suddenly grinned, ‘In this instance I think it is a case of but let sleeping dogs lie - or anything else for that matter!’
He raised his glass to Max, ‘The past is well and truly buried, I hope - under several tons of solid rock! Let it stay that way!’
‘I’ll drink to that.’ Max warmly approved, so they did.
Downstairs, Hameeda was helping Alice to unpack while the three women talked softly together.
‘It is well, child – do not look so worried. I too, feel that you have made the right decision. It feels right and Alice agrees.’ Hameeda added placidly, as she folded a skirt and laid it in the drawer, nodding respectfully at the other woman. ‘She is wise that one and she has the sight, we will have some interesting conversation when you have all gone your ways.’
‘But Aunt…’Amunet rocked back on her heels where she had been scrabbling under the bed for an errant sandal and looked up at Hameeda in perplexity. ‘You seem to be taking this so calmly and yet it is …very odd. I feel it is so strange – almost unbelievable in fact.’
‘What, that memories are long and can be passed on through the generations – I find nothing strange about that! Do not trouble yourself, child. Stolen property has been recovered and returned to its rightful owners – that is your job, is it not? You have done well, and you are right in what you intend. Tomorrow, it will finally be over and you will return to England with your husband. That is right also and as it should be, but mind now, be sure to let me know in good time, I would dearly love to be with you for the birth of my great niece!’
Alice smiled knowingly as Amunet looked up in surprise, wide eyed and questioning, quick colour tinting her cheeks.
Hameeda chuckled and put her arms round the slight shoulders of this indomitable young woman who was as dear as a daughter to her, and hugged her close for a moment. ‘But yes, Alice and I are sure the baby will be a girl, your first-born, and we are so very happy for you.’ Gently, she tilted the stunned girl’s chin and Amunet gulped back her astonishment and dawning pleasure. ‘That is better, now let us join the others, they will be wondering where we are.’
Endings
Before they flew back to England, Amunet made one special request to Blake, who willingly agreed. One early morning, they went back up into the hills and entered Kenna’s tomb for the last time.
Amunet placed a wreath of fresh flowers carefully over Kenna’s remains on the stone plinth and then took off the scarab necklace and laid it gently over the smooth white skull. As Blake watched, one crystal tear slid slowly down her cheek and dropped onto the little jewel where it lay at last reunited with the boy who had created it with so much love, such a very long time ago.
Her head was bent and her lips moved silently for a moment, then Amunet looked up at Blake and he saw that she was smiling. Taking her hand, he led her out of the secret chamber and carefully sealed up the entrance behind them. Both knew that they would never return to disturb the peace of the little room again.
In the black velvety silence they left behind them, a soft susurration in the air sounded almost like a sigh. In the chamber, two skeletons now lay entwined.
He would carve her a jewel as beautiful as her eyes and she would wear it forev
er. He would use turquoise for its magical abilities to repel evil and he would carve it in the shape of a scarab, symbol of resurrection, so that they would be sure to stay together in the afterlife. Together for eternity.
She lay in the strong young arms of her love and listened to his plans, the outpouring of his heart, and wished that this moment in time, this golden moment by the Nile, would last … forever…and ever……
The End