Death in Luxor

by Graham Warren

  “Now that all my little worms are in one can, my fun is over. I have nothing else to do except leave.” Aggie went to follow Victoria. Instantly, her other hand came up. Aggie flew back, smashing against the opposite wall to Alex, before sliding to the floor: gin and tonic still in hand! “Well, I could not turn up at the Winter Palace with black fingernails on just one hand, now could I! I would look like a Goth who lacked commitment!”

  Chapter 15

  -

  We Did Not See That Coming

  It took some time before Kate started to regain the use of her limbs. Victoria Ramolino had left with the two men in suits, and though neither she nor Julian were physically restrained, neither could move. Think and see, yes, but they could neither move nor talk. They both stood in the centre of the room, as if to attention, with their arms by their side.

  Alex and Aggie were either unconscious or dead. There was no sign of the Egyptian worker who had been helping Alex move the furniture, but he had definitely not left with the others. It was at this point in Kate’s thoughts that they were plunged into total darkness. Until now she had been able to see all the way to the exit. She had even seen the little wave and blown kiss from Victoria Ramolino, before she had exited the tomb for the very last time.

  Both Kate and Julian started to regain movement in their hands and could now make unintelligible sounds. The effects of whatever magic spell had been placed upon them was slowly wearing off. There was absolutely no light of any kind, not even the merest glimmer. Kate, however, was not too worried. She could feel that all her senses were gradually returning to her. Once they had, she considered that with the tools at hand, the process of breaking out through the revolving entrance door would not prove to be too much of a problem.

  It was at moments of high confidence, such as this, that everything usually went wrong. Kate could not fail to miss a red flash streaked with yellow, followed by an ear-splitting bang. The first came from up by the entrance. There were six flashes in total, each followed a millisecond later by the sound of an explosion, and each one was a little closer to where they were. Just seconds after the last explosion, whilst her ears were still ringing, Kate felt irritation in her nose. The room was filling with dust. Both she and Julian coughed, as neither of them had yet regained sufficient use of their limbs to allow them to cover their faces. Kate heard Alex cough. This was a source of great relief to her. Then she heard Aggie cough, which caused her to experience exactly the opposite feeling.

  Suddenly there was light. Alex was shining his mobile phone around. It was as if they were looking through fog, but, just as in the tomb of Montuemhat, being mainly heavy particles, it cleared relatively quickly.

  As it happened, it all came together quite nicely. By the time that Alex, with his extremely sore head, had managed to stand, Kate and Julian could move and most of the dust had settled. Aggie had given a few more coughs before she dropped back into a drink induced sleep. Thankfully for all concerned, as she was sleeping propped up against the wall, it was a silent sleep.

  Alex and Julian introduced themselves, after which each told their story from their point of view. Kate had located her backpack, so they now had a decent torch by which to see. On inspection, not only the exit tunnel, but also the side tunnels, where all the equipment had been stored, no longer existed. They did, however, find Cairo sleeping under a blanket of rock dust.

  “So, it was Cairo who was helping you, Alex,” said Kate as they dragged him into the tomb and dusted him off. He woke just long enough to assure them that he was okay, then dozed straight off again.

  “Yes, but I was such an idiot, as I should have realised that they knew who we were. It is now so obvious. Out of all the workers here what were the chances that they chose Cairo and me to move the last few pieces of furniture? They let all the other workers go.”

  “Did they? I think their bodies are likely be found at the bottom of the well, if at all!”

  Alex looked shocked. “Of course, you are right, they couldn’t let them go. I was so busy trying to hear what was being said, trying to plan what to do next, that it just didn’t dawn on me. I was even happy when Napoleon met his end … Sorry, Julian.”

  Julian explained that Napoleon was not his real father. Whilst on a trip to Egypt, when he was seven, his mother had changed dramatically. Very soon after they had returned home, she and his real father split up. “She is not my mother. Why won’t anybody listen to me.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Kate.

  “Just what I say, she is not my mother. Yes, she looks like her, but she isn’t able to keep up something as simple as her American accent. It’s all over the place. At home, we used to have lots of visitors and parties, wonderful parties. We went to all of grandad’s museum events, where she always made me feel special. After we returned from that trip, everything stopped. I know that I was young, but my mother always involved me in those events, took me to school and brought me home. She said that she could not bear to be parted from me. Yet not long after returning from Egypt, I was sent off to a boarding school in England.”

  “So, she looks like your mother, but she is not your mother,” added Alex.

  “What does it take to get through to you,” said Julian in frustration as much as in annoyance, “she is a doppelganger.”

  “So, you a Ramolino and she a doppelganger. A different family,” said Cairo whilst brushing the remaining dust off, having woken from his slumber.

  Julian was very close to tears when Kate asked him to explain ‘doppelganger’, as it was not a word she understood.

  Alex also wanted to know, as it was not a word he had ever come across.

  Cairo had lost interest in the conversation, as he so frequently did. He was going through Kate’s backpack looking for sandwiches or anything edible.

  “Sorry,” said Julian through a sniffle, “perhaps it is more of an American word. We use it to mean a double of someone, though when I looked the word up, it said that it was the paranormal double of a living person which represents evil or misfortune, and that is what she is. That thing is not my mother. That thing is evil!”

  Nobody could disagree after what they had just experienced.

  “How old are you, Julian?” asked Kate.

  “Fourteen, why?”

  “Has your mother aged since you came back from Egypt?”

  “Come to think of it, no, not at all!”

  Kate’s line of thought was interrupted as Aggie awoke. She started shouting that if that stupid girl did not get her a coffee quickly, there would be hell to pay. Kate, both calmly and deliberately, took her backpack from Cairo. Swinging it like a discus, she let Aggie have it. “Right, now, where were we?” she asked as she sat back down with the others.

  “Not sure you should have done that, Kate,” said Alex as he gestured for her to say nothing. “Really glad that you did, but not sure that you should have.” Everyone laughed.

  “I have seen this type of magic before,” said Kate, obviously talking from her ancient memories. “The good news is that your mother must still be alive for it to work as the doppel … Sorry what was that word again?”

  “Doppelganger.”

  “Yes, doppelganger. Well, for the magic to work the doppelganger must keep upon her person some item that is very important to your mother. We must get that away from her if we are to break the warlock’s spell.”

  “How does that mean that my mother is still alive?”

  “Well, as I said, it must be an item that is important to your mother for the magic to work. The item would not be important to your mother if she was dead, now would it!”

  “Kate!”

  “Okay, Alex, point taken. So, all we need to do is to get that item, whatever it is, away from your false mother and free your real mother.”

  “Just one thing, Kate, we are enclosed within a false tomb,” said Alex, whilst giving a wry smile.

  “Well, no plan is perfect,” she said as she playfully thumped him.
r />   “It not false tomb when we die. Then real tomb!”

  “Thank you for those comforting words of wisdom, Cairo. Anything else you would like to add?”

  “No, Madam Kate. That all.”

  “Is it the warlock who’s behind everything?” asked Alex.

  “Not everything, as I believe that there is a traitor as well as a liar in the camp, but definitely he is behind most things.”

  “Do tell me more.”

  “Not now, Alex, not before we are out of here.”

  “We are not getting out of here any time soon, so just quickly fill us in with the details, as I have also found out something.”

  “What about talking in front of Julian?”

  “I think we can trust him, Kate. The warlock has his mother. If he works against us, he will have no chance of seeing her ever again.”

  “I am with you. You can trust me. All I want is my real mother back.”

  “Okay then. Oh … and sorry if you do not follow all of this, Julian, but there really is not the time to explain everything, as we must be back to meet with friends by four.”

  Alex wondered if Kate had finally cracked under the pressure, or if she knew something that they did not.

  “Well, what I do know for certain is that Ramses knows much more than he is saying. It suddenly came to me. Look … when Ramses died, Nakhtifi became ruler for less than a year. Ramses’ thirteenth son, Merenptah, pushed out Nakhtifi, only to die and let Nakhtifi rule again, though again for less than a year before he in turn died.” Julian looked totally confused. Even Alex and Cairo looked at Kate as if to say ‘where is this going’. Seeing the looks on their faces she cut to the chase. “It must be Ramses who gave the warlock his high position in the first place, so it is one of Ramses’ people who is the traitor. It has to be.”

  Julian was now well beyond confused. Alex waited to find out how Kate knew that there was a traitor, though he thought that she was correct about Ramses originally placing the warlock into a high position, as he had formed his own suspicions.

  Cairo was yet again going through Kate’s backpack, though this time item by item, as he could not believe that it contained nothing at all edible.

  Kate was less than forthcoming, so Alex just had to ask, “What makes you so certain that there is a traitor?”

  “Because Victoria Ramolino said something like, ‘the magician, or the warlock, as you like to call him’. How on earth would she have known what we call him, if she had not been told by a traitor?”

  Julian went to speak, but Kate stopped him. “We know that it’s not really your mother, but what else do we call her in conversation?” Julian shrugged. “There is also one other very important thing, and we may be able to use this to our advantage, if we get out of here.”

  Alex and Julian were now worried. Even Cairo looked up. ‘If we get out of here’ was nowhere near as comforting as Kate’s earlier confidence that they would be meeting with friends by four.

  “Victoria only has a limited amount of power. I can see now that the boulder at Luxor Temple was not planned. She just saw the opportunity and she went for it. Afterwards, when she stood there as if she was in a trance, it was not because she was frightened, but because it took all of her magic to make that rock fall. I think that it nearly killed her. She has a weakness which we can exploit.”

  “Excellent, Kate, if we ever get out of here we just get her to try and kill us again and then she will be vulnerable. Great plan! We may well be dead, but at least she will be vulnerable.”

  “Funny boy! Okay then, Alex, what did you find out?”

  “Well, I do not think that dad was a decoy.” Alex stopped himself and started again. “I do not think dad was digging as a decoy. I saw an ancient map when I was moving the furniture. That very thick wall behind the Greek temple is to block off the rear entrance to a tunnel which leads straight into the warlock’s tomb. Until then I did not realise just how close we are to the Valley of the Kings.”

  “Are you daft, Alex, it’s a long way there from here.”

  “Yes, it is by road, when you are driving around the Theban Hills and coming back on the other side. In reality his tomb is actually not that far away, in that direction.” Alex pointed to the right-hand corner at the rear of the tomb. “Though dad does not know it, I think his dig is an attempt to break into the warlock’s tomb; to set him free. I now think that the people who built all of this, had originally tried to enter the warlock’s tomb from here. That is why there are so many short passages from the first chamber.”

  “Yes, that would make sense,” said Kate as she instantly saw the bigger picture. “It also rather confirms that your dad must be working very close to where we are.”

  “Even I can follow that,” said Julian.

  “What I do not understand,” continued Alex, “is with the warlock’s tomb so clearly shown on the ancient map that I saw here, why the men in suits could not locate it and break him out without any need to involve my dad.”

  “Warlock,” said Cairo.

  All three of them said, “What!”

  “Warlock use old magic, he put spell on his tomb.”

  “Yes, of course,” said Kate as she gave Cairo a hug. “Don’t you see? He put a curse, spell or whatever you wish to call it, so that tomb robbers could not break in. From here they were probing, but even his supporters could not break in because of the spell. You are right, Alex, your dad, without knowing it, is digging to break into the warlock’s tomb. I bet if we could ask him, he would say that his diggers, time and time again, came against rock that they just couldn’t get through.”

  “Then how the hell do we get in?”

  “Oh, come on, Alex, do think,” said Kate in a playful way.

  “Why would my family need to block entrance,” said Cairo, “if there was no entrance.”

  “See how simple it is. I’m really disappointed in you, Alex.”

  “But as the warlock’s followers are all working to promote him to the status of a pharaoh–” Alex started, though Kate finished.

  “Then why wouldn’t he let them break in? That’s simple.” Alex could feel himself going red, though in the half-light Kate did not notice. “To make a curse or spell which has lasted for several thousand years must have taken a lot of time, skill and energy. To break the spell would require just as much time, skill and energy. The warlock only learnt how to cast the spells he needed, not how to revoke them.”

  “So, in that case, the only way in or out of the warlock’s tomb is either through that extremely thick wall behind the Greek temple, or the padlocked metal sheet in the Valley of the Kings.” Alex’s face contorted as he was obviously thinking very hard. “Neither a wall nor a sheet of metal would be strong enough keep the warlock locked in. There must be magic on these, put there by someone in your or Cairo’s ancient family. That’s all that is keeping these exits secure.”

  “Exactly, and that is one very good reason why this problem has never been solved. The warlock can control and guide his followers from within his tomb, but he cannot get out to wreak vengeance. Likewise, we cannot get in to finish him once and for all, unless the spell on the entrance and exit is removed, and I cannot see anyone wanting to risk doing that.”

  “What sheet of metal?” asked Julian, though as he did, the side wall of the chamber, just above and to the side of where Aggie sat, made the most dreadful noise. As it started to cave in, yellow, slightly flickering light shone across the chamber. First there was a small hole, though within less than a minute there was a proper escape route.

  A jackal headed god dropped down into the tomb who announced himself. “I am Ophois, son of Anubis. We must leave now.” Nobody needed to be asked twice as they scurried up the rubble that had fallen into the chamber before entering the tunnel one by one. It was lit with flaming torches and there was someone waving at them to come, though he did look some way off. After the first metre or two they could stand and walk normally. Ophois followed behind with Agg
ie draped over his shoulder.

  “I was pleased that the jackal saved us,” said Kate as she failed to recall his name, “but he could have left her behind.”

  “You do not mean that, Kate.”

  “Oh yes, I do!”

  “You know that you do not have to worry about Aggie anymore.”

  “Yes, that is what your parents said yesterday, though today I think that we all had cause to worry about her.”

  Alex could not disagree. Aggie’s hatred of Kate when combined with the amount of alcohol she consumed was bad enough. To find out that she was far too easily manipulated by those who wanted them dead, was a real cause for concern.

  There were hugs and relief as they arrived to see Ropet and Sanuba standing by the wooden cart to which two craptors were attached.

  “We are going to have to come up with a different name for them,” said Alex. “Craptors really does not do them any justice at all.” He tried to make a fuss of the one closest to him. It started to growl and buck, so he stepped away sharply. By the time Ropet had the animal back under control, they had explained to Julian about this form of transport and Aggie had been lashed across the back of the little cart. There was not enough room for them all to sit inside, and anyway, she was unconscious.

  Julian was worried about his elbow. Kate told him not to worry, as he would be screaming anyway, regardless of any pain in his elbow. This did nothing to reassure him, but then they were off and off at a pace. Julian did start to scream, though when they dived as if they were on a rollercoaster they all screamed, even Ropet and Sanuba, which certainly did nothing for anyone’s confidence. The dive under the Nile had been quite protracted, though now they were slowing, as the momentum left them. The craptors struggled for grip on the steep upward slope. This, however, did not last for long as they soon came to a halt. An opening in the wall beside them appeared through which they bundled, only to find themselves to be in the kitchens of the Winter Palace. As they were to find out shortly, they were in a kitchen under a kitchen, with this one being at ancient ground level.