Death in Luxor

by Graham Warren

  Kate understood this. She felt quite sad that so many ancients had had their treasures denied to them, by modern intervention. She thought that she could make this right by announcing Nakhtifi to the world. Leaning over, and at a stretch, she managed to get hold of the small statue. Initially she tried to pick it up with one hand. It certainly was small enough to be held in one hand, though it was far heavier than she had thought. Now using both hands and desperately trying not to put too much pressure on the objects below, she managed to lift it out.

  Close up it was a truly beautiful piece. The weight was obviously due to it being made from solid gold and turquoise lapis lazuli. A block of which formed the plinth between the two figures into which Nakhtifi’s cartouche was inlayed in gold. “Such intricate work,” she thought as she examined the piece. Now close to hand, she could see that it was Nakhtifi, resplendent in his royal crown and robes, along with his wife Henutmehyt, who was indeed naked. The upright figure in the middle even had a detailed collar. “It must be Bast,” she thought. Turning the statue towards Nakhtifi allowed him to see the piece close-up for the first time in centuries. Tears now freely ran down his cheeks. “I can see that it is you and Henutmehyt, but why are you shown wearing all your royal robes when–” Kate did not get to say any more.

  “Oh no … no, no, no, … I know what you are thinking, but she is not naked. On our wedding day, Henutmehyt was the most beautiful woman in the world, she still is, and I was the luckiest man who had ever lived. She wore the finest linen. The goldsmith did his best to capture how she looked. I freely admit to this being my favourite piece. It captures her beauty so well.”

  Kate could not disagree. “And Bast?”

  “Oh, I have never had a Bast. I never needed one, because I had my father’s. As I grew up, she was always there for me. With everyone knowing of my love for my father’s black cat, having her on there made the statue perfect.”

  “Yes, it really is quite perfect,” said Kate. She placed the statue carefully on the side of a pile of golden objects so that they could both look at it at the same time. They went on to discuss Bast, as which pharaoh she belonged to had been shrouded in mystery. Kate was soon to learn just how independent cats could be, even when they were ancient gods.

  Alex broke from his conversation with Aryamani. He looked off beyond the piles of gold into a dark corner. Ramses and Bast had also heard something. Aryamani, who had been speaking at the time, wondered what they were all worried by. He was just about to ask, when Ramses gave the warning sign of an imminent attack: a vertically raised left-hand gesture that started directly in front of his face, only to cut through the air like a knife before a twist of his wrist pointed in the direction of trouble. Alex had not seen Ramses’ right hand move, but it now held a sword which was raised and ready for action. Aryamani, like the true soldier he was, also had his sword raised, and much to Alex’s amazement so did Alexander the Great. They all stood as if ready for war.

  “Shall we go and take cover, Cairo? … Cairo!” Alex asked as he span full circle, but there was no sign of him. There was also no sign of Thoth or Bast. He could see Kate and Nakhtifi on the far side of the chamber. They appeared to be oblivious to any possible problem. He made to go and warn them, though as he took his first step Aryamani smacked the blunt side of his sword across his chest. It was not as hard as some of Kate’s smacks, though it certainly had the desired effect.

  “It has taken me far too long to find a direct member of my family who has ‘seen’, so I am not going to let you die now,” said Aryamani extremely quietly.

  Alex did not know whether to be relieved or extremely frightened. His shaking somewhat confirmed the latter. It felt like a lifetime, as he stood there listening to his heart thump in the silence of the chamber. In reality it was only slightly longer than a minute before there was a sudden crash. It sounded as though a whole pile of golden artefacts had been toppled. It was a crash which even Kate and Nakhtifi could not fail to miss. All now peered into the darkness, straining to see who or what was coming towards them.

  Turning so that Kate was standing directly behind him, Nakhtifi withdrew his sword. Though he was far from being a battle experienced pharaoh like his father, he knew better than to move. It was easier to focus on any attacker whilst stationary, as well as to swing a sword with power and accuracy whilst both feet were firmly planted on the ground.

  Kate being Kate, she immediately stepped out from behind him. She stood directly in the arc of any potential sword swing.

  Nakhtifi was attempting to get her to move, just as there was another crash. Now they could also hear the sound of running feet. After a few more seconds, it sounded as though it was possibly just one person. With sound bouncing off every wall, it was extremely difficult for any of them to be certain. Whoever it was, or whoever they were, all would be revealed in the next few seconds, once in the bright light of the chamber.

  Those seconds seemed to be an eternity to each and every one of them. Alex was slightly distracted as he glanced towards Alexander. He was amazed that he was able to stand, but he not only stood, he appeared to be a formidable force. Looks can, however, be deceiving.

  It was Ramses who broke the silence. “At ease, though stay alert. Gadeem’s approaching.” Immediately everyone relaxed, and as Alexander the Great did, he collapsed to the floor, just as unconscious as before. Ramses understood that if Gadeem had broken cover, then everything was far from okay. Though if he, out of condition and with no obvious weapon of any sort, could reach them, then whoever was chasing him, if anyone was, could not present any immediate threat to the likes of them. Ramses was relieved that everyone could take the adrenaline down a notch or two, as they would not have been able to maintain it at that level for very long.

  “They have taken her,” shouted Gadeem as he approached running, puffing and spluttering.

  “Who has taken who?” asked Ramses as he beckoned Gadeem to take a seat.

  “They have taken Rose, who else could I mean? She has taken Rose!”

  On hearing this, Kate, who was already on the move, moved even quicker towards Gadeem. “Who is the ‘she’?”

  “His daughter Henuttawy, that is who!” Gadeem was puffing and spluttering his words out as he pointed at Ramses. “And before you say anything, I know that you sent her away to do no more harm centuries ago, but she is back, and by all accounts she has been back for some while.”

  “Henuttawy back in Egypt, this cannot be. She would not dare defy me like this.”

  Kate now had the confirmation she needed; the proof that the flow of information to the warlock was coming from Ramses, however unintentionally. Though if he did not know that his daughter was back in Egypt, and his shock sounded truly genuine, then there must be a go-between. Someone who was close to them both. Kate was rather abruptly brought back from her thoughts, as not only was she both shocked and stunned at the response from Gadeem, but she could see that Alex and Cairo, who had reappeared from his hiding place, were also.

  “You have always been stupid, Ramses,” Gadeem bellowed. “You were born stupid and you died stupid. Life is nothing more than a joke to you. Without me you would have been written into history as Ramses the Failure. Do you remember who stopped you making a complete fool of yourself at Kadesh? Yes, me, it was me! I turned your biggest failure into your biggest success. Thoth and I, yes, Thoth and I, created the perfect record of the earliest battle in recorded history. We gave details of tactics and formations, and we did it so well.” Gadeem stabbed his chest with his index finger. “Yes, I did it so well, so well that even today archaeologists never question why they are unable to locate the actual battle site. Six thousand chariots lost, and they cannot find the remains of one, not one!”

  Gadeem turned towards Kate and Alex. He was red faced and angry. “Do either of you know why?” he asked without waiting for an answer. He turned back to Ramses, who could not have been more frozen to the spot if Gadeem had actually been holding a dagger to his throat.
“It is because there was no battle. I made it up, and Thoth wrote down what I said, whilst both you and that Hittite king drank red wine together and giggled like school boys.” Gadeem paused for a breath, though nobody attempted to speak. “Even today, archaeologists still dispute who won the battle, which proves just how good my story was. You both needed to win and you both did.”

  Gadeem was really angry. He was shouting directly at Ramses, who to the surprise of Kate, Alex and Cairo remained frozen to the spot whilst looking somewhat chastened. “The one thing that I asked of you, the only thing that I ever asked of you, was that you protect Rose, and you, yes you, have so totally failed me.” Gadeem had stood as he said this and was now jabbing his finger into Ramses’ chest, yet to the continued amazement of Kate, the greatest pharaoh of all time accepted this.

  Kate could see that Cairo continued to be just as shocked as she was. Alex was actually smiling as he stared at the ground ahead of him, so she followed the line of his eyes. Gadeem was in fact standing with his feet slightly below the current ground level, just as Ramses was. It then dawned on her that despite running into the chamber, not one piece of dust had been sent into the air. Kate looked at Alex and he looked back. The confusion over what they had just heard cleared as they shared the same thought, “Gadeem was an ancient!”

  Chapter 24

  -

  Time to Panic

  “You failed me, Ramses. What is worse, you have failed Rose. You promised her, you promised …” Gadeem collapsed down onto a chair, his arms folded on the table and his head dropped into them. He was sobbing.

  Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle. He placed a warning hand on Kate’s arm. Something was not right.

  Ramses had experienced the same as his sword was raised. Not only was his sword raised, but his knuckles were white. He gripped it so tightly that the blood was pushed from his fingers. Danger was imminent. Yet again Alexander was standing with his sword raised, and yet again Cairo was missing. This time, however, he was not the only one. Alex had no idea where Bast and Thoth were, he had not seen them since Gadeem arrived, but now Nakhtifi and Aryamani had gone. He was well aware that Nakhtifi was the one person here who had to be protected at all costs. Proof of his existence was so close to being out there in the world at large, though despite Ramses’ rather premature optimism, he remained, as yet, unknown.

  “Something really bad is about to happen and we are being defended by a drunk and a red wine drinking failure,” said Kate more to herself than to anyone in particular.

  Alex scowled at her, then held a finger to his lips. His concern was how Ramses or Alexander would react if they overheard her comment, though if either of them had, they failed to react in any way. A period of total silence followed, during which time Kate and Alex, without saying a word, took the opportunity to take a few nervous steps backwards. Out of range of any possible wild sword swing.

  All that broke the silence was the occasional sob of Gadeem. This, however, did not remain true for long, as now there was no silence between his sobs. There was a sound which Kate and Alex had heard before. Last time they were at the bottom of a tomb with only one exit. This time they were in Alexander the Great’s gold chamber, though equally with only one exit.

  Kate looked to Alex, who returned a nod of recognition, though it was the look of fear on his face which she noticed more. “It cannot be the same soldiers,” said Kate softly. She did not mean to say it softly, that was just the way it came out.

  It took Alex a few seconds to realise what she had said. “Why can’t it be the same soldiers?” he asked a little too loud, for which he received an angry silence gesture from Ramses and Alexander.

  “Because I have not said Nakhtifi!”

  “Well, you flipping well have now, though we are so far beyond worrying about saying his name!” Before Alex could say any more, the sound of the approaching feet suddenly magnified. The noise of heavy footfalls echoed from every wall. There was no way of knowing how many were coming, just that they were coming and they were coming fast.

  The sound of running feet, screaming voices and clanking of metal engulfed Kate’s senses. Everything turned into a blur as the body of an ancient Egyptian soldier flew past her, the result of the first swing of Ramses’ sword, though it would be far from his last. Body after body followed, and Alexander was as equally successful.

  Kate could see that she had been wrong in her assumptions. These soldiers were dressed exactly the same as those who attacked them in the tomb of Tausert and Setnakht – full ancient Egyptian battle costumes, mostly in red, rather like an overly long T-shirt, bare legs and leather flip-flops strapped in place. Turquoise and gold was worked into their leather belts as well as the straps which crossed their chests. Into these were slipped the small daggers which Alex had first noticed.

  “Don’t just stand there, remove their names,” bellowed Ramses disjointedly between sword swings. Neither Kate nor Alex moved. They were frozen not from fear, as before, but from being in a state of total disbelief. It was as if they were spectators looking through a lens rather than actually being part of the action. It was quite surreal.

  They were surrounded by gold, a wealth beyond imagination. There were ancient soldiers lying on the floor, almost cut in half by mighty sword blows, yet there was not one drop of blood. These same soldiers, who had died over two, possibly more than three thousand years ago, presented a real threat to them right now, or they had just a few moments before. Kate and Alex were watching two larger than life characters from different periods of history – Ramses II and Alexander the Great – fight together to save not only their lives, but the afterlife of the as yet unknown Pharaoh Nakhtifi.

  “If you do not start removing names right now I will have you plucked and served at my next banquet,” bellowed Ramses between swings of his sword, though this time he bellowed much louder than before.

  Within a second or two Thoth was beside Kate and Alex. Bodies were already beginning to fade, as he frantically removed the little pieces of papyrus onto which the soldiers had written their names. As the last name from any soldier was destroyed, they and their family were forever removed from the afterlife. It was the ultimate price to pay. Ramses and Alexander could lose the battle, they could have terrible pain inflicted upon them, but their names were far too well known to ever be removed from the afterlife.

  The battle, for a battle it was, suddenly started to make sense to Kate. Neither Ramses nor Alexander could be killed, so Nakhtifi, who could be, had been taken to safety, though where that safety was she could not work out. “They must be hiding in here somewhere, or if they did get out then we should be able to get out.” Kate thought this to herself and followed it with, “We are being used as a distraction. In these circumstances, Alex and I are expendable!”

  “We need to get out of here, Kate.”

  “My thoughts exactly, but how?”

  “Don’t give me all the difficult questions to answer!”

  “Well, there’s lots of free space over where I was with Nakhtifi. We could search for a way out over there.”

  “Not a good idea. Here we are protected by Ramses and Alexander. Over there we are on our own.”

  Kate could see what Alex meant. With the soldiers coming straight for them, they were safe whilst Ramses and Alexander were resisting the attack. Over where Kate had been with Nakhtifi, all any attacking soldier had to do was to turn towards them. They had no way of protecting themselves. They would die.

  Thoth was obviously in fear of being the main course at Ramses’ next banquet, because he was making bodies disappear at an amazing rate. He was using his beak as well as his hands. His quill also appeared to be helping by pointing to where every little piece of papyrus was hidden.

  “Wow, did you see that?” asked Kate.

  “See what?”

  “See what Gadeem just did!”

  They had both completely forgotten Gadeem as he sat and sobbed. Now they focussed on him int
ensely. Even though Gadeem sat, unprotected, with his head in his hands and his back towards the attacking soldiers, who made no attempt on his life. They were actually keeping their distance. They gave him a wide berth on their way to die at the hands of Ramses and Alexander.

  “Gadeem isn’t doing anything, Kate.”

  “Just watch.”

  “He is just sobbing,” Alex started to say but it abruptly changed to, “wow!”

  “That is what I saw a few moments ago,” said Kate.

  “But he just disappeared,” said Alex, meaning the attacking soldier, not Gadeem.

  “Exactly,” said Kate. “If anyone gets too close, they instantly disappear. No wonder they are giving him a wide berth.”

  “What do you think this means?” asked Alex.

  “It means that Gadeem could be our ticket out of here.”

  “How do we get to him, Kate? He is in front of Ramses and Alexander.”

  “Okay, so my plan may not be fool proof, but do you have any better ideas?”

  “I’m totally out of ideas. I haven’t got a flipping clue as to what to do.”

  “Oh, so the great Alex is clueless and admits it,” said Kate with plenty of attitude.

  “Well, one of you had better think of something soon,” shouted Alexander, “as one of these soldiers is bound to get past us at some point. They know that, that is why they continue to attack.” Alexander spoke between sword swings, just as Ramses had done, so it had taken them a while to hear his full statement.

  Kate and Alex were there before Alexander had finished speaking, though knowing what he was going to say and finding a solution to their predicament, were two completely different things.

  “I’m not sure Gadeem is our way out of here after all.”

  “No, neither am I.”

  “Let’s get right back to the wall,” said Alex. “That way we will see anyone coming towards us and nobody can attack us from behind.”

  “Here,” said Kate as she picked up a long golden sceptre and thrust it into his hand. She then picked up another for herself. “At least we now have some extra protection.”