“That is magic for you,” said the young lady. “The warlock can only affect what he can visualise. Neither he nor any of his followers have seen this room, so his magic cannot reach where we are. We are trapped, though we are quite safe.”
“So, what you are saying is that we will not be killed by the warlock, yet we may starve to death.”
“We will not starve to death, Alex, because we will die of thirst first,” she replied with a smile and a wink.
“How come you could help us, Thoth? We invaded a pharaoh’s tomb, your pharaoh’s tomb, the one you should be guarding.”
“Well, Alex. May I call you Alex?”
“You already have done many times, so do carry on.” He could see that this Thoth suffered from the same insecurities as the others he had met.
“I have never understood why we are called gods. We are created by the needs of our pharaoh. We are the toys of our pharaoh. It does not matter about our feelings, our needs, we are here to serve. Even if my pharaoh is the most disgusting lowlife creature, and mine is, I am forced to serve him. I have no chance of ever dying and finding peace. For as long as my pharaoh lives on in the afterlife, I am forced to live along with him. They call me an ancient god, yet I am living a personal hell with no end in sight.”
Ay’s burial chamber was continuing to fill with rubble and dust, yet none of it was entering where they were, and neither was any noise.
“I had never thought of it like that. I’m so sorry, Thoth. Is there nothing we can do to help?”
“My pharaoh should never have been pharaoh. Ay was a general in Tutankhamun’s army. He killed the boy and became pharaoh illegally, so why am I his Thoth? He should never have been able to create any gods, yet good or bad, right or wrong, once he was crowned pharaoh he was gifted the power to create us. You ask what you can do to help me. I shall tell you what you can do, find a way for me to die.”
“If we got rid of the warlock,” suggested the young lady, “wouldn’t that make life much better for you?”
“Yes, indeed. He has a hold on Ay which makes him even nastier than usual.”
“So, are we all agreed? The warlock must be removed from the afterlife?” The young lady looked for confirmation.
“Yes,” said Alex with passion.
“Yes,” said Quentin, but he followed it with words of warning. “You must not tell anyone of my knowledge of the ancients. Do you understand, Alex? Not Kate, not Cairo, not your mother, not anyone.”
“I don’t fully understand, Dad, but I shall tell nobody, if in fact I ever get out of here alive.”
“Getting out of here is easy,” said the young lady.
“Sorry, I do not know your name?” Alex asked as a question.
“For the moment, I cannot tell you my name, because ancients are listening for it to be spoken.”
The penny dropped. “I know who you are!” said Alex excitedly.
“I thought you would work it out, but please do not speak my name.” Alex moved two fingers across his lips to confirm that he would not, so she continued. “Ay has been letting gold out of this chamber to ingratiate himself to the warlock, in return for power when he is set free. However, we all know the warlock craves power so desperately that he will never relinquish away. Not even a small amount. Ay is far too stupid to realise that he is only being used for his gold.” Thinking that she may have said too much, considering where they were, she changed the conversation. “It is a steep climb from here, but you do have a way out. The question I have to ask, is, do you wish to leave here just now?”
Quentin was making himself as comfortable as he could, though with so many wounds and bruises everything hurt.
Thoth was intently listening to all that was being said.
Alex tried to work out if he did want to leave right now. He knew he wanted to know much more about Henuttawy. Just as with his father, everything hurt, yet she was a great distraction from the pain. He concluded that it would be better to stay where they were until the warlock was convinced he was dead. He also realised that there must have been someone watching if the warlock’s magic could only work on what he knew, otherwise he would not have been able to do the table trick. How would he have known there was a table or that they were sitting at it? Someone had to have relayed this information to him. “Yes, I think it’s better if we stay here for a while. At least until the warlock is convinced that I’m dead. I do need mum, Cairo, Kate and everyone to know that I’m alive once we are out of here. I don’t want them to worry.”
“But if everyone thought you were dead, both you and Quentin, it would give us a great advantage.”
“Look, Hen…” Alex stopped himself just in time. “Sorry about that. Look, they have all suffered enough over the warlock. If we stick together as a team, we can destroy him as a team. If they think I’m dead, it will demoralise them whilst giving me the advantage. That’s not a team, and I am part of a team.”
“Well said, Alex. Proud of you, my boy.”
Henuttawy was also proud of his stance and decided for a second time to change the subject. “What did it say on your shirt before you mucked it up with all your blood?”
Alex looked down at his T-shirt. It was one of his father’s. Because he had been too busy at the British Museum to do his own packing, his mum had done it for him. This meant he had to resort to wearing his father’s T-shirts. All of them were individually printed and nearly all were dreadful archaeologists’ jokes. Several had been given to Quentin as presents by his students. Immediately he thought Henuttawy would think him a child, though after studying it for a while he realised, much to his relief, the message on this one was quite good. “Sorry, I was having difficulty reading it.”
“I am not surprised as there is not a lot left of it.”
“It says ‘Archaeologists dig up the remains of people who thought they would live forever!’”
“No!” exclaimed Quentin. “Not my favourite T-shirt.” He lifted his head, looked at Alex, rolled his eyes in disapproval, then said, “Yes, you have destroyed my favourite T-shirt. You are grounded!”
Chapter 7
-
Dr Margretti Arrives
Kate woke, showered and went down for breakfast. She was surprised to find Babs, Alex’s mother, sitting on her own and looking as though she had the worries of the world on her shoulders.
“Good morning,” said Kate cheerily as she pulled out a chair and sat down. “Where’s Alex?” Nobody ever gave a thought of asking where Quentin was, because he so often preferred to stay at his dig. However, if Kate had been made aware that Quentin was supposed to be meeting the arriving British archaeologists at breakfast this morning, she might have registered more than a little concern.
“I have no idea. I didn’t worry last night, as he had called me earlier to say he was going over to see his dad. When I checked Quentin’s diary this morning, it told me that he was supposed to be here for a meeting. One he would not miss. Neither of them is here and I have just again tried the landline so I can talk to them at the dig, but there is still no reply.”
“I’ll call Alex on his mobile,” said Kate getting out her new Egyptian mobile phone, as much to impress Babs as to phone Alex.
“There’s no point, as there is no mobile coverage that far up the valley. That’s why the army put the landline in.”
Having had such a wonderful day with Rose yesterday she was bursting to tell Alex all about it. This made her far more annoyed than concerned that he was not here. A group of noisy English tourists came into the breakfast room which made Kate even more annoyed. They sat at a large table which appeared to have been specially prepared for them. The chair at the head of the table remained empty, Quentin’s chair!
With her back towards their table she was unable to see them from where she sat, but she could hear the noise they were making. Upon spinning her head around to give them one of her scowls, she found herself looking directly at a black waistcoat. Looking up, she came across a face
slightly more vampire than human. It belonged to a tall thin man of pallid colour and with deep set eyes.
“Hello, Kate, it is Kate, isn’t it? We have not met. I am Dr Margretti.”
“Oh, good morning,” Kate stuttered.
“I was only talking to Quentin the other day about your ideas on that tomb.” He tapped a finger conspiratorially on the side of his nose. “Where is he by the way, as he was supposed to be meeting us here? I know we have only just arrived, but we are all extremely eager to get working.”
“I don’t know where he is,” said Babs.
Dr Margretti took a step closer to her. After introductions and apologies, the current situation was explained to him. He turned, then called across the breakfast room. “Joe, is our transport ready?”
A very well built man with a deep voice replied. “I will check for you, Doctor.” Kate had expected him to leave the room in order to go and find out. However, he did not. Pulling a mobile phone from an inside jacket pocket, he immediately started talking. Compared to the others at the table he looked out of place. Larger by far than anyone else, he was all muscle and would have looked much more at home standing outside the entrance to a nightclub. “Ten minutes, Doctor,” he said without taking the phone from his ear.
“To our specifications?”
There was a short delay before he replied, “Affirmative!”
Upon seeing the look on Kate’s face Dr Margretti called the man over. “This is Joe, my personal assistant. Joe, meet Kate and Mrs Cumberpatch.” He already appeared to know exactly who they were.
Close up, Kate considered him to be even larger and more powerful than she had first thought. “Are you also an archaeologist?”
Dr Margretti answered for him. “Joe is invaluable to me.”
Joe’s hand slipped into an inside jacket pocket. He withdrew a phone which he pressed tightly to his ear. Kate did not really know why, but for a split second she had expected him to bring out a gun. Looking over to Babs, she got the distinct impression that they had both had the same thought.
“Affirmative!” Joe said again as he scanned the room, before saying directly to the Doctor: “We can move. Transport will be outside by the time we are.”
“Good, good. Come on, young lady, you are coming with us.” He then spoke directly to Babs. “And we shall get Quentin to phone you just as soon as we meet up with them at the dig. You know what he is like when something ancient is in front of him, that phone could ring all day and he would not even notice.”
Kate had no hesitation in leaving with them, though wondered why she did not, as they were a scary looking pair.
Once outside of the Winter Palace, she understood why Dr Margretti had said transport, because this most certainly was not a car. It was black, all black, even the windows. It was huge, and by the amount of power Kate had to put in to close her door, it was armoured. It was also soundproofed, as once all the doors were closed, the sounds of Luxor disappeared. Dr Margretti and Joe sat in the back with her. An unseen driver behind a black glass screen took his directions from Joe via an intercom.
“That was Luxor Temple we just passed, and the Nile is on our left, we are going the wrong way for the bridge.” Despite the size of the vehicle and the vast amount of space they had inside, there was no view to the front, and the dark tinted side windows were all extremely small. They also did not open. No window winder, no electric window buttons. It was when Kate realised there was nothing at all on the inside of either door, except for the straps used to pull them shut, that she started to think she had been rather foolish by agreeing to go with them.
“Do not worry. I think you will enjoy this,” said Dr Margretti who was all smiles, or smiling as much as any vampire could.
Kate was far from reassured.
Just beyond The Officers Club on Luxor’s Corniche the vehicle swung without warning across the left lane of traffic, sped through heavy metal gates which had been specially opened for them, and without slowing down at all, headed down a steep slope. All Kate could see on the small television monitor, which had sprung to life in front of her, was that they were heading straight for the River Nile at an acute downward angle. Nobody heard the splash from inside the vehicle, though they all heard Kate scream. Water washed over the side widows whilst the monitor showed that their obviously amphibious vehicle was heading for the far side of the Nile at quite a pace. It was a bumpy exit from the river, but to Kate’s amazement they were very quickly on the road to the Valley of the Kings, the road which would lead them on to the Valley of the Baboons and the tomb of Ay. Yes, Kate was enjoying this.
As they approached the very end of the valley, they came across the workers resting in any shade they could find. “Panorama,” said Joe through the intercom. An electric motor whirred as it sprang into action. A large digital screen appeared which gave a panoramic view. Rocks and boulders lay everywhere.
“What are all those white spots?” asked Dr Margretti.
“The remains of tent city,” said Kate through tears. It was obvious that a whole rock face had fallen, leaving behind it a white scar on the landscape. It would be many years before the newly exposed rock darkened to match its surroundings. “Nobody could have survived this, Alex could not have survived this.”
“Do try and be just a little more optimistic, young lady. All the workers appear to be unharmed.”
Kate did not reply, she could not, as she could not see this ending well.
Making no attempt to leave their vehicle, Dr Margretti told Joe, in a slow, deliberate and emotionless voice, the course of action needed.
Over several phone calls he issued the Doctor’s orders in the minimum number of words possible. Very soon all the archaeologists were on site, lorries appeared with equipment and the workers were working. Even the largest boulders were proving rather easy to move. Many large wooden poles were pushed under each massive boulder just as far as the workers could. Lifting together, only slightly, the downward slope away from the tomb of Ay did the rest.
The tents had had it, they had been torn to shreds. Each uncovered tent was immediately replaced. Tent city was reappearing before Kate’s eyes. Well, not actually before her eyes because she could not see out of the front of the vehicle. She watched it all happen on the screen in front of her. It was impressive how much they cleared and how many tents were replaced, but nobody had yet found any sign of Alex or his father. As the last few of the really large boulders were removed, it was clear to see that the workers looked ever more nervous, as the expectation of finding a flattened bloodied body increased.
An unknown voice to Kate came through the vehicle’s speakers. “All clear, Doctor. No bodies found. The tomb of Ay looks as though it has taken quite a battering. The entrance remains completely blocked. If they have taken refuge in there, we should know within the hour because all efforts are now focussed on this site.”
Joe pressed a button which gave two clicks.
“Understood,” came back almost instantly through the speakers.
“What are you?” Kate asked of the Doctor.
“I am a Doctor who works at the British Museum, and I am here to assist my good friend and colleague Quentin with his dig.”
“Yes, that is the official line, but this is not archaeology. This is a military exercise. Rambo meets 007.”
The Doctor chuckled. “In many ways you are quite correct. I have always thought of myself as the James Bond type and Joe here would make an excellent Rambo.” Now it was Kate’s turn to chuckle. “Let us wait until we recover Quentin and Alex. It should take less than an hour.”
Kate would have preferred it if he had said rescue rather than recover. This did not sound at all good.
Almost exactly half an hour later the same disembodied voice came back through the vehicle speakers. “We have broken through and are heading down into the burial chamber.” Joe gave two clicks, and again “Understood” was the reply.
“This is a military operation.”
&
nbsp; “Well, I assure you it is not.” Dr Margretti sounded rather offended by Kate’s comments. “You are making the mistake of confusing efficiency with military. Do you see any weapons?”
“Sorry,” was all she could say in her desperation to know if Alex was okay; Quentin also, of course.
“We should be hearing some …” Dr Margretti was cut off in mid-sentence.
“Burial chamber approximately a third full of rubble. It would appear that the ceiling has fallen in. Sarcophagus badly damaged, so it must have fallen with some force. No sign of life or bodies. Await your instructions.”
Kate burst into tears as she imagined Alex’s crushed body under all the rubble. There could be nowhere else for him to be.
Joe looked to Dr Margretti for instructions.
“Three clicks, I think,” said the Doctor.
Joe immediately gave the three clicks.
“Please reaffirm?” came back at them through the car speakers.
“Joe, you had better make it three clicks and follow it with a single click.”
“Okay, Doctor.” Joe did as he was instructed.
A much happier sounding voice came back at him through the car speakers. “Understood.”
“Yes, yes,” Dr Margretti said as he saw the look on Kate’s face. “Two clicks: ‘message understood, carry on.’ Three clicks: ‘message understood, return to base’.”
“What of the extra single click?”
“The single click, when added to the end of a message …” The Doctor rubbed his chin as he thought, before asking, “Can you help me here, Joe?”
“Yes, of course, Doctor. A single click has several meanings. When it is added after three clicks, the full message is: ‘message understood, return to base, but prepare to go back.’ It lets them know there is more to be done, that after an assessment of the situation they will definitely be going back.”
“Thank you, Joe.”
“Why don’t you just talk–?”
“To whomever it is who is speaking to us,” said Dr Margretti as he finished Kate’s sentence. “This is going to be so much more difficult than I thought it would be. Can you accept things as they are, as this is the way they have to be done?”
Luxor Lost and Found Page 5
