“But it’s almost dark,” Miu pointed out. “The sun’s setting.”
I peered at the doorway behind her. Now that she mentioned it, the sky was looking distinctly less bright than it had a few minutes ago. But if I gave up, then Sabu would win.
“Great Detectives don’t care about the dark.” I leaped up onto the shadowy ledge. “They keep going wherever the case takes them.”
As I started to sniff around, Miu jumped up to the ledge, too. The shadows were so deep that I could barely see her, but her voice was impossible to miss. “Ra, I’m serious. You don’t want to be stuck out here after dark. Sabu’s told me how dangerous those jackals can be. And there’s something else that worries me. When I was climbing up here, I saw Huya on the cliffs above you—”
“Huya?” Khepri cut in. “What’s he doing out here?”
“I don’t know,” Miu said, “but I hope he didn’t see me. I didn’t like the desperate look on his face. And I think I saw a jackal hiding behind a rock—”
A chill went down my spine.
Khepri felt me shiver. “What’s wrong, Ra?”
“The breath of Anubis,” I whispered. “I can feel it on my fur.”
“Anubis?” Khepri chuckled. “Don’t be silly, Ra.”
“I tell you, I can.” The sun must have set, because the tomb was almost completely dark now. “There’s something wrong here.”
“It’s fine, Ra,” Miu said from the other end of the ledge. “Calm down.”
A chill went over me again. The whole place was growing spookier by the moment.
“There’s someone in here,” I said, with growing conviction. “Someone in the dark with us—”
“Stop it,” Khepri whispered. “You’re scaring me now.”
“I’m scared, too,” I whispered back. “I tell you, Anubis is here—”
“Ra, please,” said Miu.
“He’s here,” I told her. “He’s lying in wait for us!”
In the darkness, I heard something rustle.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” I bolted out of the tomb.
“Ra, come back!” Miu chased after me.
Above me, Khepri’s scream was like a tiny whistle. “Raaaaaaaaaaaaa! The jackals are out here!”
I’d forgotten. But in the twilight, I saw their glowing eyes just below us.
“Anooooooooooooooooobis!”
The jackal gang had found us.
The Jackals of Anubis
Before we could duck back into the tomb, the jackals cut our way off. Within moments, they had us hemmed against the cliffs.
“We’re trapped!” Khepri cried.
“Beware the jackals of Anoooooooobis!” The whole gang took up the cry. At noon, they had laughed at us, but there was no laughter now. Only menace. “Anooooooooooooobis!”
The leader stepped forward, wolfish teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “I warned yoooooooooooooou,” he howled. “I told you to stay away from the toooooooooombs!”
“Up here, Ra.” Miu flashed past me, leading the way to a tiny gap in the rocks. With Khepri clutching the top of my head, I flew in after her, just in time to avoid becoming a jackal’s dinner.
“I hope you’re satisfied,” Miu said, once we were settled.
“Um…sort of.” The new quarters were extremely cramped, much more so than the last tomb. But that wasn’t so bad. “At least there’s no space for anyone to lurk in the dark with us.”
“Shhh!” Khepri warned. “If we talk, those jackals will stay close by. We want them to give up and go away.”
We were silent for a long while, listening to the howling outside our hidey-hole.
“Beware, introooooooooooooooders! The jackals of Anoooooooooooooooooobis will have their revenge!”
Eventually, worn out, I dozed off, only to wake up with a start, my heart pounding.
“Who’s there?” I called out.
“Only Miu and me.” Khepri crept back over to me. “We were talking.”
“I thought we weren’t supposed to talk,” I said.
“That was ages ago,” Khepri said. “It’s past midnight, I think. And the jackals have backed away, at least for now.”
“Well, I’m not taking any chances,” I said. “I’m staying until daylight.”
“I think that’s wise,” Miu agreed. “Though I wish we could investigate that last tomb again. Ra, what made you think someone was in there with us?”
“Didn’t you hear the rustling? Couldn’t you feel his breath?” Remembering made me shiver again. “I tell you, Anubis was there. And he called the jackals to him.”
Outside, a faraway jackal howled, as if in echo. “Anooooooooooooooooobis!”
I shuddered.
“That’s what you keep saying, but I don’t believe it,” Miu said flatly. “If there was someone in there, I bet it was Huya. Or maybe Kenamon.”
“Why would they be hiding in a tomb?” Khepri wanted to know.
“Maybe they were retreating from the jackals,” Miu said.
“But why would they be up here on the cliffs in the first place?” Khepri wondered.
“Because they’re guilty, and they’re trying to avoid the authorities,” Miu said. “Or maybe because they think the treasure’s somewhere up on these cliffs. Somewhere we haven’t looked yet.”
“There certainly are a lot of hiding places up here,” Khepri mused. “These cliffs are riddled with holes and gaps.”
“Kenamon’s innocent,” I reminded them. “I’m sure of it.”
Miu hardly seemed to hear me. “Maybe Huya blackmailed Kenamon into helping him.”
“Or maybe Huya robbed the tomb by himself,” I countered. “Or maybe he’s cooperating with the Scribe and the Vizier. I thought we agreed it was fishy that they didn’t want to investigate inside the tomb.”
“There are endless possibilities,” Khepri said, sounding discouraged. “Sometimes I think humans are too complicated—”
“I don’t think the thing in the tomb with us was a human,” I said unhappily. “I tell you, I felt the breath of Anubis on my fur.”
“Oh, Ra.” Miu nudged me with her paw. “Don’t start that again.”
“I did. I really did. It’s the creepiest thing that’s ever happened to me.” I sank my head onto my paws, looking for some kind of comfort. “I wish I was back home at the palace.”
“No point thinking about that now,” Khepri said.
“I can’t help it,” I moaned. “What if we never get back there? What if the jackals get us first? What if Anubis does?”
“Ra, please.” Miu nudged me with her paw again. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“The case,” Khepri suggested. “Let’s talk about the case.”
“Why?” I wailed in despair. “We’ll never crack it. Not if the gods are involved.”
“It’s not the gods,” Miu insisted. “And I’m sure we can solve this case. If worse comes to worst, we can just follow the money.”
I sat up, bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
“Whoever has all that loot is rich, Ra,” Miu explained. “Eventually he’ll give himself away because he’s spending too much money.”
“There’s not a lot of money in Set Ma’at, so he’ll stand out,” Khepri added. “If somebody buys precious jewels, or starts making his tomb or his house extra fancy—”
“Huya’s tomb is fancy,” I said, remembering that intricate ceiling. “And so is the Scribe’s house. And Neferhotep was going to buy a tomb portrait from Kenamon, remember? He ordered an extra-big statue from Bek, too.”
“True,” Khepri said. “And Kenamon hushed his little sister when she asked if they were rich now. So I guess it could be any of them.”
“It wasn’t Kenamon,” I muttered.
“It sounds like none of them makes much mo
ney,” Khepri went on, “so I can see why they’d be tempted to steal from a tomb.”
“You know, I thought the tomb workers would be paid better,” Miu said. “It’s sad to see so many families struggling to get by.”
“When you think of the beautiful art they make for Pharaoh, it seems like they deserve more,” Khepri agreed.
“Yes.” Miu sighed. “I’m not saying it’s right to rob a tomb. But how can it be right to bury all that gold when people need it?”
I shuffled my paws uneasily in the darkness. I wanted a beautiful tomb. But I agreed that the people of Set Ma’at deserved better—especially Kenamon.
“People get so worked up about their tombs,” Miu went on. “I just don’t understand it. If you ask me, what matters is how we treat others in this life. That’s the true memorial, and that’s what will count when Anubis weighs our souls. Not some golden rooms in the side of a cliff.”
“Anooooooooooooooooooooooobis!” The howls outside were growing louder. “Anooooooooooooooooobis!”
A muzzle snuffled at the gap in the stone.
“They’re trying to get in,” I yelped, drawing back.
“They’re too big to fit,” Miu said. “I think.” But she retreated, too.
I squirmed into a fold in the rock and burrowed as deep as I could. Some of the rock crumbled, letting me worm my way farther back.
Khepri let out a strange click.
“Hey, buddy,” I said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m okay,” he said. “But there’s something odd about this rock.”
As he spoke, the rock gave way beneath me, and we tumbled down in a flurry of stones.
Gold Everywhere
Before we even hit the ground, Miu was calling to us. “Ra? Khepri?”
“I’m fine,” I croaked, shaking myself free of pebbles and debris. “What about you, Khepri?”
“I’m okay,” he chirped from somewhere to the right of me. “But I don’t know where we are.”
“Me neither.” I trained my ears and nose on the darkness around me. “From the echo, it sounds like a big place. And it smells musty. I’m talking really, really old. And sort of…spicy.” I stopped sniffing as the horrible truth dawned. “Khepri, I think we’re in a tomb.”
“I’m coming to help!” Miu called.
“Miu, don’t,” I warned.
Too late. She landed next to me. “Wow. That’s a big drop,” she said as a few pebbles bounced down after her. “How are we going to get up to the cave again?”
“That was my point,” I said hollowly. “Now we’re all trapped—in an ancient tomb.”
“We’ll find a way out,” Khepri said confidently.
“We’re doomed,” I moaned. “Doomed, I tell you. No one will ever find us, and we’ll waste away in the darkness…”
Except it wasn’t so dark anymore. A faint light was glowing somewhere to our left.
Khepri scuttled toward it. “Hey, watch out,” he warned us. “There’s a big hole here. I mean really big.”
A hole? I stopped moaning and squinted. Khepri was right. On our left there was an enormous hole, right at the mouth of a tunnel. The light seemed to be coming from the far end of the tunnel.
“Maybe it’s a pit to trap tomb robbers?” Miu trotted forward. “Yes, look at that. Those are some serious spikes at the bottom. And look, someone’s laid some rope across the pit—”
Khepri scrambled forward for a closer look. “It’s a rope bridge.”
The faint light wavered and grew brighter.
“Someone’s coming,” Khepri said, hopping back to me.
“Anubis!” Strangled by fear, I could barely whisper the warning. “He lured us here. It’s been his plan all along. He’s coming!”
“Not Anubis again,” Miu said, but I saw apprehension in her eyes as the light grew stronger.
“Hide!” I choked out. “Quick!”
Turning back, we could see the chamber we’d fallen into. It was indeed a tomb, with a polished stone sarcophagus and ghostly statues covered with jewels and gold. On the floor was a heap of still more jewels—including an enormous amethyst heart scarab. There was a small golden sarcophagus set carefully beside it…
A cat-shaped sarcophagus.
I twitched my whiskers in shock. The loot from the tomb robbery!
The light grew brighter, and then I saw him, coming down the narrow tunnel toward us…Anubis.
His black jackal head was enormous, the body beneath it veiled like a priest. When he reached the pit and the rope bridge, his robes billowed out, and he seemed to fly across it. Quaking, I ducked behind the nearest statue with Miu and Khepri.
“I told you Anubis was here in these cliffs,” I whispered as we peeked out from behind the statue. “But you wouldn’t believe me. Even when I told you I could feel chills—”
“Ra, that’s it.” Khepri turned to me. “That’s the solution!”
What did he mean? I was too sick with fear to ask. Pharaoh’s Cat is as brave as a lion, but even a lion is afraid of the gods. Anubis was striding up to the sarcophagus, his power so strong that flames leaped from the walls as he passed. Or maybe it was just that his flaming torch was reflected in every spark of gold.
Certainly, there was a lot of gold here. Gold on the statues. Gold on the table. Gold on the wall paintings. Gold from the stolen loot of Setnakht’s tomb.
My paws trembled as Anubis set his torch in a golden stand, then leaned over the giant stone sarcophagus. With a horrible scrape, he pried the lid open and muttered some magic spell.
As I watched in horror, the mummy inside moaned and began to rise.
My ears flattened in fear, but I still caught every sound. The mummy groaned again, a tortured spirit being dragged back from the realm of the dead. The wrappings fluttered, releasing a terrible stench, like something that had rotted away…
I couldn’t take it anymore. Shutting my eyes, I went limp. Please don’t let Anubis find me.
“I don’t believe it,” Khepri breathed into my ear. “Look, Ra. It’s Kenamon.”
Kenamon? Impossible!
I opened my eyes. The mummy was squirming now, and his face was turned toward us. Khepri was right. It really was Kenamon—tightly bound and gagged with torn linen wrappings.
Anubis hauled the boy out of the sarcophagus and dumped him on the floor. Grunting, the god straightened, and his jackal head wobbled. He steadied it with both hands.
It was a mask!
My claws sprang out. Nobody fools Ra the Mighty and gets away with it. Whoever it was, I was going to bring him to justice—somehow.
The boy groaned.
“It’s your own fault,” the man in the Anubis mask told him. “You should have kept your nose where it belonged, boy. No one asked you to snoop around.”
So Kenamon had been trying to solve the case—just like us.
I peered at the jackal-head mask. Who was behind it? Was it the Scribe, or Huya, or Neferhotep? They were all about the right size, and the mask muffled the man’s voice, so I couldn’t tell.
“I was only taking what was rightfully mine,” the man said to Kenamon. “All those years I’ve worked myself to the bone to give the pharaohs a blissful eternity, and what do I have to show for it? I’ve been shorted on pay and treated like dirt.”
Shorted on pay? That didn’t sound like the Scribe. That must mean it was Huya or Neferhotep.
“So who could blame me?” the man went on. “I can’t right the balance in this life, but I can in the next. With the treasures I’ve taken, I’ll have a glorious afterlife.”
Not if you’re a thief, I thought. The real Anubis will weigh your heart, and you’ll be found wanting.
But the man in the mask didn’t see it that way. “The gods themselves want me to have it,” he told Kenamon. “Why else would they have
led me to this ancient tomb when I was digging my own? Why else would I have had the skills to disguise the passageway between them?”
The skills to disguise the passageway between them? I thought of the woodwork in Huya’s tomb. If only we could have taken a closer look at it!
“The gods planned it all,” the man went on. “They showed my ancestors the secret way between Thutmose the Second’s tomb and Setnakht’s. When Thutmose the Second’s tomb was robbed and abandoned, I knew it was a sign. The gods ordained that I should restore the balance. And then you”—he pointed an accusing finger at Kenamon—“went and stood in the gods’ way.”
Kenamon tried to roll over.
“Squirm all you like,” said the man. “You won’t get away from me. Nobody knows where you are. I talked to the Scribe, and even to those fools Huya and Neferhotep, who have been combing the hills for you. None of them suspect a thing.”
What? If this man wasn’t the Scribe or Huya or Neferhotep, then who could he be? The Vizier? The Captain of the Guard?
I exchanged a baffled glance with Miu, but Khepri didn’t move a smidge on my head. So he wasn’t startled by this revelation.
I gulped and thought hard.
That’s the solution, Khepri had said. But what had we been talking about?
I’d been saying that no one would listen to me about Anubis, that they’d made fun of the chills I’d felt…
What was the connection? As I tried to figure it out, the man in the Anubis mask yanked the boy off the floor.
“When they find your body in the desert sands, with a tiny earring in your hand, everyone will know that you and your father are guilty. And they will never, ever come after me.”
His hands went to the boy’s throat, and I looked at Miu in panic. We had to stop him! And then, as I saw the golden cat sarcophagus behind Miu, it was as if I heard Pamiu speaking to me. I knew what to do.
Maybe Miu heard him, too, because when I darted out, she was right behind me.
“Meeeeeeeow!” I screeched.
The man let go of Kenamon. “What’s that?”
I dashed over to the loot and grabbed a jewel in my mouth. Miu followed suit.
The Great Tomb Robbery Page 10
