The Buried Pyramid

by Jane Lindskold

  “We can only ask,” Neville said, “and hope.”

  “And pray,” Stephen added. Then a wicked grin asserted itself, almost despite himself, “Though we’d better be careful to whom we pray if we don’t want to be tried all over again for violating monotheism!”

  A gong struck, and the physician gave them a tight, thin-lipped smile.

  “I believe your request will be granted,” he said. “Neferankhotep will hear your plea. Take care what you say, for even my skills cannot heal one who has met the wrath of angry gods.”

  The air parted as though a curtain on a stage. Before them was the Hall of Judgment. Neferankhotep again sat on his throne, his advisors arrayed alongside him. The Forty-Two Judges muttered from their long benches, and other fantastic figures had joined the throng. Neville recognized Isis, Horus, Geb, Ptah, Shu, and, perhaps hopefully, Ra.

  There were others whose names he did not easily recall, beings with the heads of scorpions, snakes, hippopotami, rams, and baboons. There were those who resembled humans but for horns or animal ears or oddly tinted skins.

  Yet despite this outlandish and rather horrid assembly, Neville found he had eyes for only one figure. Audrey Cheshire, still in her soiled and sandy riding costume, her black hair tumbled loose, tangled, and filthy, knelt in the brass pan of the scales. These touched the stone floor, mutely testifying that she had been far heavier than the bird-winged goddess who sat so lightly on the other side.

  Ammit waited with confused patience for her rightful meat, but Anubis laid his hand on the monster’s head as if commanding she wait just a little longer.

  “We have heard your appeal,” Neferankhotep said, his tones stern and for once without the faintest trace of kindness. “We have been generous with all of you, have adapted our laws, and have let go free those whose goodness we doubted. Yet still you ask for more. State clearly what you wish, and what you are willing to do to gain it.”

  Neville threw back his shoulders and stepped forward, noting as he did so that there was not the faintest hint of pain from his ankle.

  “Good pharaoh,” he said, “we do not question the justice of your ruling regarding the woman Audrey Cheshire, yet we beg to be given opportunity to redeem her. One of the basic tenets of Christianity is forgiveness of those who have done wrong.”

  “So forgive her if you would,” Neferankhotep replied. “How does this affect what I will decree?”

  “We ask you to let us have her,” Neville said, “to bring her back into the world, for if we were simply to forgive her while permitting what fate awaits, our forgiveness would be hollow.”

  Stephen spoke into the uncomprehending silence that followed this noble statement.

  “From a purely legal point of view,” he said, “there is reason to let her go as well. You agreed to judge her based on our codes. Well, by the legal codes of our land, execution is considered a very severe punishment for attempted theft.”

  He laid a slight stress on the word “attempted,” obviously as a reminder that, like the rest of them, Lady Cheshire had not had much success in her ventures. Neville loved him for this generosity of spirit.

  Neferankhotep’s expression remained impassive.

  “I had intended to speak with you about what is due to you since you have passed judgment, for as Miss Benet reminded me, the soul who is vindicated is granted many rewards. Would you forgo these in return for the opportunity to redeem one who has done you such great wrongs? Before you speak, let me remind you that the hospitality I have offered you thus far is to the delights of the afterlife what a grain of sand is to a sprawling desert.”

  Neville shrugged. “I could not enjoy even paradise if I thought I had acted against what was right.”

  Eddie gave a gusty sigh. “Neither could I. Besides, what I really want is to go home to my wife and family. Are you telling us that is impossible?”

  Neferankhotep shook his head. “It can be made possible. If you insist on attempting to redeem this woman, it may be impossible.”

  “Still,” Eddie said, “Neville’s right. I’d have to live knowing what I let happen. Count me in.”

  The others agreed, and Neferankhotep shook his head.

  “So Thoth told me it would be. Very well. We have a task for you. If you succeed, you will win Audrey Cheshire’s life, and also keep the rewards we would have given you. If you fail, you will find yourself longing for the jaws of Ammit, for that devouring pain will be nothing to the torments devised for you.”

  25

  Tomb Robbers

  It seems only right,” Neferankhotep said, “that in order to redeem Audrey Cheshire you must reverse the crime of which you yourselves were so nearly guilty. You yourselves might have desecrated my tomb had this not been a place uniquely blessed by the gods. Your charge will be to prevent the desecration of another tomb, one belonging to a pharaoh towards whom we have special reason to feel gratitude.”

  There was a pause, and Jenny thought that Neferankhotep would explain just what this anonymous king had done to earn the gratitude of deities, instead the good king indicated Ra.

  “You have done Ra a kindness, and so he has chosen to honor you with his counsel.”

  As the hawk-headed sun god stepped forward from among the ranked gods a wash of brilliance came from him, curtaining the humans from the other gods—or perhaps removing them to some other place entirely. The privacy, or at least the illusion thereof, was comforting after having been under the inspection of so many sets of eyes. Jenny felt herself relaxing as she had not even under the sybaritic ministrations of the shabti.

  “In your own day,” Ra said, “the place to which I shall conduct you is called The Valley of the Kings. The pharaoh whose tomb you must secure from violation is among these.”

  “We were in the Valley,” Stephen said. “I wonder if we saw this tomb?”

  “No,” Ra said. “Even in your own day it remains undiscovered, its very existence held in doubt.”

  “We must have done a good job then,” Stephen said cheerfully.

  “I fear this does not follow,” Ra said. “It may not have been discovered because it has been looted beyond recognition as a tomb. It may have been stripped and reused for the interment of another. All these are possible within the great fan of time.”

  Stephen’s cheerfulness faded, and he nodded.

  “I think I understand,” he said. “Forgive my interruption.”

  Ra inclined his head in graceful acknowledgment of the apology.

  “In order to succeed in your task, you must do two things. One, you must secure the tomb against the theft that will otherwise occur on the night of your coming. Two, you must somehow assure that no other theft will take place. It will not be easy. Once already the tomb has been violated, but at that time the priests were more vigilant, and the thieves were stopped before they could violate the king’s body. They did succeed sufficiently that tales of the treasure that remains within the tomb have been told down the years within their families.”

  “So,” Neville said, “we need to manage something that will counteract years of storytelling—tales that doubtless have grown in the telling.”

  “They did not need to grow very far,” Ra said, and there was a hint of dry laughter in his tones. “The wealth with which this pharaoh was entombed was considerable. As Neferankhotep said, the gods had great reason to honor this king for actions done under his reign.”

  Jenny shivered. “Then is this another tomb created by the gods themselves, like Neferankhotep’s?”

  “No. We have only bestowed that honor once,” Ra said. “The offerings made here were mortal ones, but made with an awareness that this king would be well-beloved by the gods, and that his burial should not be skimped, lest the same gods ask why when those responsible for making the offerings came to judgment.”

  Eddie asked, “This tomb has been robbed once before? Certainly arrangements were made to protect it afterwards.”

  “Such arrangements were made,”
Ra agreed. “However, time has passed. Corrupt priests and guards have been bribed. More honest men are serving elsewhere this night. The thieves will have time to remove sufficient impediments for them to be able to steal at least the more portable items. They may even have time to break larger items so that they can be stripped of gilding and other ornamentation.”

  Stephen looked very worried.

  “That pretty much means the pharaoh’s mummy will be desecrated,” he said. “If the thieves want portable items, they’re not going to overlook the charms and amulets in the wrappings.”

  “That is how it will be,” Ra agreed, “if you cannot stop the thieves.”

  “Can you tell us something about the layout?” Neville asked. “That might help us position ourselves most effectively.”

  Ra crouched, a very natural and human motion, and sketched a plan in the sand at their feet.

  Where did the sand come from? Jenny thought. I’m sure we were standing on stone.

  “The tomb has but one entrance,” Ra said, “by a long stair that leads into a sloping corridor. There are two doors, one at the base of the stair, one at the entry to the tomb. After the first theft, the length of the corridor was filled with rubble, much of it quite massive. Depending on when you choose to arrive, the thieves will remove enough of this rubble to enable them to penetrate the interior of the tomb. However, they will not clear the entire corridor.”

  Neville held up one hand.

  “Wait, Mr. Ra. Are you saying that we can arrive at any time we wish?”

  Ra tilted his head in a very birdlike fashion.

  “Of course. Either I will choose the time, or you will. The same goes for the place you will appear. The one thing I will not do is bring you in at a variety of times. That would be too much like taking part in a task that must be yours alone.”

  Neville nodded. “I can see that, rather like delivering reinforcements or creating a new queen on the chess board when all you have is a pawn.”

  Her uncle’s reference to a queen made Jenny think of something. “Ra, will we be able to reclaim our weapons? I left my revolvers and derringer in the Hall of Judgment. I’m pretty sure the rest of the firearms are with our gear.”

  “You will not want those,” Ra said firmly. “The damage they would cause would be worse than what the tomb robbers would create.”

  “Oh,” Jenny said. She didn’t quite agree, but she knew enough to know when argument would not be welcome.

  “Knives are all right?” Eddie asked, partially unsheathing his own long blade as if offering to put it aside at Ra’s command.

  “Perfectly,” Ra assured him. “We do not care if the thieves are damaged, but we would prefer not aiding in damage to the tomb.”

  “But the mummy’s the important thing, isn’t it?” Stephen asked.

  “It is the most important thing,” Ra agreed.

  Neville held up a hand for silence, a gesture that almost—but not quite—included the hawk-headed god.

  “We’ve learned some valuable things,” he said. “However, before we start refining our plan, let’s learn what we can about the layout.”

  Ra placed his fingertip in the sand again.

  “Beyond the second door is a room longer than it is wide.” He drew a narrow rectangle, marked it in two places. “There are two doors from this room, here and here. The room itself is filled with burial goods, so that only a narrow strip down the center remains.”

  Stephen leaned forward. “And the marks you made—which one leads to the burial chamber?”

  Neville frowned at the young linguist, but Ra did not seem offended. Indeed, he went on as if he had not heard Stephen’s question.

  “This mark, nearly across from the door in which you would enter the chamber, indicates the door into a small room meant to hold offerings to sustain the king in the afterlife. It is cluttered with a wide variety of goods. Indeed, there is hardly enough room for one person to stand. This mark on this narrow wall farther from the door indicates the entrance to the burial chamber.”

  Ra drew a fatter rectangle, almost a square, and indicated another door at one end.

  “The burial chamber is lined with several shrines. The coffin is within these. The door leads to a room containing even more treasure, including the canopic shrine. It would be very good if this could be saved from violation as well.”

  Jenny sighed. “I guess it would be best if we saved everything, but how much can we mess up and still be said to succeed?”

  Ra looked at her, his avian gaze unforgiving.

  “The pharaoh must remain undisturbed in his tomb, secured from further violation. Those are the most important things, but the burial goods are not mere treasures set as a vain boast of earthly power. They are meant to sustain the deceased in the afterlife, and as such are important to his well-being.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jenny said. “I guess I just got overwhelmed for a moment. I’m not quitting.”

  “That is very wise,” Ra said, and something in his tone made Jenny’s heart skip a beat.

  Uncle Neville looked up from studying the diagram.

  “Mr. Ra, how large are these rooms?”

  “Their dimensions matter little,” Ra said, “for they are crowded with furnishings. I would say that one, maybe two of you could stand within and still have space to move.”

  “The robbers must be small men,” Neville said.

  “Some are,” Ra agreed, “but not all. However, people of your own day are generally larger than people of that time. Even Miss Benet would be considered quite a tall woman when compared to the average.”

  “One, maybe two inside,” Neville said, glancing around their company. “Stephen’s out then. He’s the largest of us by far. Rashid and Eddie…”

  Jenny cut in.

  “Uncle, I’m smaller than Eddie or Rashid, and I know how to handle myself in close quarters. Papa made sure of that.”

  Neville looked worried, but he nodded.

  “You’re right. I would not be doing any of us a favor if I crowded us in so that the thieves had all the advantages. Besides, if those of us on the outside do our part, there won’t be much to do inside.”

  That seemed to cheer him considerably, and Jenny permitted herself a small feeling of relief. She was learning a lot about the consequences of volunteering for dangerous positions, but what she was learning wasn’t just that danger scared her stiff. It was learning that the one thing that scared her more was standing by and leaving others to take the risks.

  “Timing is going to be everything in this,” Neville said, thinking aloud. “Eddie, any thoughts?”

  Eddie frowned. “Much as I hate the idea, we’d better let them have penetrated to the inside. Part of making sure the priests and guards take better care in the future is making sure they realize how close they came to losing everything. Another thought—let’s not kill anyone if we don’t have to. Let the thieves rat on their accomplices. That’ll do more good than a heap of dead bodies.”

  “I like that,” Neville agreed. Then he looked worried. “How can we make them understand? I doubt they speak any language we do.”

  Stephen said hesitantly, “There is some reason to believe that modern Coptic is a survival of the ancient Egyptian tongue. I have studied it, but I don’t suppose…”

  “No,” Ra said, shaking his head. “The language you know is not enough alike.”

  “I didn’t think so,” Stephen said, obviously disappointed, “any more than we’d understand Old English if we heard it spoken—or even Middle English. When you think about Shakespeare’s plays, even Elizabethan sounds fairly odd, and that’s only a couple of hundred years diverged from our own language.”

  “Exactly,” Ra said. “However, if you feel that speaking to these people will make it possible for you to better do your task, I believe I can grant you that. It will not be a lasting gift, but only a part of acclimating you to that other time. The gods have agreed I may do that.”

  But Jenny
thought he looked rather uncomfortable nonetheless, and was warmed to think of this strange being bending the rules for them.

  They seem to do a lot of that, she thought. I guess it’s up to us not to disappoint them.

  “However,” Ra said in the tones of a teacher proving how strict he is after a moment of indulgence, “I shall keep the kitten and the monkey with me. They are not to be included in this task.”

  Jenny didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. Mischief was certain to be nothing but trouble, but Mozelle had proven herself oddly useful. If she showed herself as a lion again that would give the thieves pause. That gave Jenny an idea.

  “Ra, will this acclimatizing us to another time mean we’ll look like the Egyptians?”

  Ra blinked. “I suppose you could.”

  “But what if we didn’t want to look like them?” Jenny quickly clarified her thoughts. “I think one look at us would be pretty terrifying. The Egyptian empire might have had trade with neighboring nations, but I doubt the average thief would have done so—especially as far up river as Luxor.”

  Uncle Neville laughed.

  “I like that, Jenny. How about it, Mr. Ra? Can we stay looking like ourselves?”

  “If that is what you wish,” Ra said, “then it will be so.”

  They all considered the rough map in silence, then Ra added, “The tomb is cut out of the cliffside. There is a level, open area above. Usually guards would pass by it on their patrols. Tonight they will not. It is like this…”

  He sketched out the area, marking a few large obstacles.

  “These are rocks, left from cutting away the stone when the tomb was made.”

  “They may provide some cover,” Eddie said, but his tone expressed doubt.

  Ra drew a few more marks.

  “These are where the rubble cleared from the tunnels was placed. The mounds are about waist high on a man—an Egyptian man, not one of you English giants.”

  “Very good,” Neville said.

  Neville gestured toward the map.

  “If we have Jenny and Rashid go inside, that leaves three of us to handle the men outside. I suggest we space ourselves out. Behind those rocks,” he pointed to three, “should be best. At a prearranged signal, we make some sort of noise, try to spook them.”