Luxor Lost and Found

by Graham Warren

  “Stop worrying. There’s nobody around, so come and join us.”

  He took Kate’s advice, though for the sake of modesty he slipped into a bath which was not directly next to theirs. After a period of quiet relaxation David spoke softly, though as he did, he continued to watch the reflections of the water on the ceiling. “With Emmy and me arriving in Amarna, just in time to save you and Cairo from being captured, it rather slipped my mind as to why we came to find you in the first place.”

  “So, why did you come?”

  “Well, um, it is not good news I am afraid.”

  “I think Alex, Cairo and I have become immune to bad news, so, Dad, do spit it out.” She liked the sound of the word, it was good to have a dad.

  David looked across to Kate and Emmy, but no words came out. Kate calling him ‘Dad’ only added to his feelings of failing her.

  “Oh, for goodness sake, David, tell her or I will.” He made no attempt to speak, so Emmy told Kate.

  “The warlock has escaped!” repeated Kate in disbelief, as she found out she was not as immune to bad news as she had thought. “And you just forgot to tell us this?”

  “Initially, yes, but when I did remember, there never seemed to be an appropriate time,” said David.

  “Would there ever have been?” retorted Kate.

  “No, probably not, but I never thought for a moment he would come here.” David paused, looked down into the flowing water, then said in a reflective tone, “I had just found you … I had just found you and wanted to feel the moment. To feel alive again after so many years. I should have told you all, I know I should, but the longer I left it unsaid, the more difficult it became to find the right time.”

  “What is so bad about this warlock anyway?” asked Emmy, so Kate enlightened her. She became angry as she listened to Kate tell of how awful he was, and became increasingly insistent that something needed to be done about him. “This one person should not have the power to be able to make so many good people live in fear, either in this life or the afterlife.” Emmy put her hand up to where her hair was missing. Her anger increased as she now realised it was the warlock who was responsible for her almost having no head, let alone no hair on the back of her head.

  Even Kate had not realised it had been the warlock at the gate and his magic which had been used to attack them. She had presumed … well, she really did not know what she had presumed.

  Emmy was new to all of this, so she asked, what Kate thought to be, extremely naïve questions. It then hit her that she herself had asked exactly the same questions just a few weeks earlier. “Was it really only weeks ago?” she asked herself, as it felt as though she had lived a lifetime in that time. Compared to the lives of many, she probably had.

  Emmy’s anger turned into a burning fury as David, without elaboration, told her that she was an orphan because of the warlock. “He is going to be removed from the afterlife, and we are the ones who are going to do it,” she said, after which she splashed water on her face so that nobody could see her tears.

  Alex and Cairo had expected Henuttawy to take them back to the grain store. As they stopped running, she explained why she could not: “They bake the bread at this time of night. It would not be safe and neither would the room in the square. I am really sorry. I do know Amarna so well, yet I am at a loss. I really do not know where to go for safety. This is terrible. I am unable to think straight as I cannot stop my head from spinning. Who would have expected the warlock to be free after all these years, let alone be in Amarna? Are you sure, Alex, are you really certain that it was the warlock you saw?”

  “It was an extreme shock, but even without the garish green thing he attacked us with, I have no doubts at all. That was him … that was the face we saw in Television Street. What is he doing here of all places?”

  “I really cannot think at the moment. What we need to do, is to get back to our own time.” She saw the look of confusion on Alex’s face. “Yes, I know I am an ancient, but this is not my time. My time is your time, do you understand?”

  Alex thought he would get to a point of understanding, though right at this moment, with his head also spinning, it was evading him.

  “You dead, but are alive in our time,” was how Cairo put it. Alex immediately understood.

  “I may be dead, I may never need to sleep, but right now I need a peaceful place to rest, because I need to be able to collect my thoughts. Then I should be able get us out of here.”

  “Henuttawy, is there a cemetery here?” asked Alex.

  “Yes, a very large one. I like your thinking, come on!”

  “I don’t like the sounds outside,” said David as he tried to see what was going on by climbing up the shelves, in order to peer through the gap between the top of the wall and the roof.

  Emmy felt both underdressed and overdressed at the same time in her gold necklace and royal garb, so she was pleased to find a plain galabeya she could wear. Kate also took the opportunity of changing into a fresh galabeya. Emmy was reluctant to leave her ‘borrowed’ necklace behind, so she put it back on, though this time under her galabeya, where it was hidden from sight.

  “This doesn’t sound good at all. I think the warlock has got everyone out looking for us,” whispered David.

  “But can you see anything?” asked Kate.

  “No, nothing, but there is far too much noise for this area at this time of the morning. It’s so early the sun hasn’t even shown signs of rising.”

  “Hey, Kate, have you seen this?” called Emmy as she looked through a grate on the floor. Water was flowing from the baths into what looked to be a decent sized tunnel, with more than enough room left for them to be able to breathe.

  Kate looked down and thought it may come in useful as an exit of last choice. She did not like the idea of getting lost in some sort of ancient plumbing system, especially if it turned into an ancient sewage system. She quickly returned to David where she asked again if he could see anything outside. He put a finger to his lips before gesturing five times with his hand, to let Kate know there were twenty-five, she presumed soldiers, directly outside.

  Kate kept quiet and in turn gestured to Emmy, who also kept quiet. David was also quiet, it was the shelves which were noisy. The shelf he had been standing on was bowing, looked fragile, but why, oh why, did it have to fail at this moment in time. David’s downward momentum was too much for the lower shelves. He crashed down through them all, scattering papyri across the room, with many going into the water. The noise was deafening, even though David said only one very quiet word ... “Ouch!”

  The sound of the soldiers’ running footsteps was soon exchanged for the sound of the doors to the baths being hammered on.

  “Escape of last resort?” asked Emmy.

  “Yes, oh flipping, yes,” answered Kate as she headed for the grate at speed. It lifted out easily and dropped back even easier. All three of them had just started to move along in waist high water, when the sound of the doors to the baths crashing open, raced past them.

  Just before it became too dark to see anything, David took out a self-seal plastic bag into which he placed the bag containing the grains of sand of the Sun. Then he took out and used another one, just in case. Not knowing if water would affect their usefulness he was taking no chances.

  “What is it with you and self-seal plastic bags?” asked Kate.

  Whilst they walked on, David explained that it was the archaeologist in him which forced him to always have several different sizes in his pockets. This was in case he found something interesting as he explored the ruins of Amarna. He especially liked the ones with a small white area printed upon them. On these he could note its contents, as well as the date of the find.

  Kate made a mental note to do the same in future.

  Whilst water did not get any deeper, the tunnel did not become any smaller, as they walked on. There was enough air passing through for its walls to remain dry. This was a great help, as it allowed them some purchase when
their feet slipped.

  The soldiers, quite surprisingly, made no attempt to follow them. Kate wanted to believe that they were too stupid to work out where they had gone, though, not for one second, could she convince herself that this was the case. They must have known, so there must be a reason why they were not following. Perhaps they would be waiting at the end of the tunnel, or was there something much worse ahead? Whichever way Kate played it in her mind, it did not have a good ending.

  Chapter 28

  -

  United We Fail

  The first rays of the sun broke over the horizon. They raced down between the mausoleums, directly hitting the closed eyes of Alex. Their intensity was no match for thin skin. He sat up, shuffled back into the shade, then rubbed his eyes. As soon as he regained the ability to see anything more than large black dots, he stood, looked along the rows of small buildings in each direction, and saw that it was indeed an extremely large cemetery.

  His plan which had started so well, had, as was only to be expected from the evidence of previous plans, fallen to pieces. Alex was pleased they had actually been able to find what they had come for, but he wondered how they were ever going to get out of here. Not the cemetery they found themselves in, but Amarna, ancient Amarna. He was startled upon hearing Henuttawy’s voice as she walked up behind him. He kicked himself for not noticing she was missing as he had observed Cairo sleeping, though he could sleep anywhere.

  “As far as I can make out from my little wander, we are the only living souls in this cemetery.”

  Alex thought she looked as fresh and lovely as ever and caught himself staring at her beauty. “Have you found a way out of here?” he asked quickly and without any thought, in order to hide his embarrassment.

  “I have not been outside of this cemetery this morning, but yes I am thinking clearer now, so getting out, under normal circumstances, would not be a problem.”

  “By that do I gather we have a problem?”

  “Not necessarily. Come sit with me here in the shade and I shall explain.” Henuttawy sat on the shaded side of a small mausoleum. Alex moved to sit beside her. “The warlock is free for the first time in over three thousand years. He could have gone anywhere, though he chooses to turn up here in Amarna where he knows, from the magic in the button before you destroyed it, that you, Kate and Cairo are. That screams anything except coincidence to me.”

  Alex nodded in agreement. “Do you think I should wake Cairo, so we can all talk together?”

  “I would not, not at the moment. Let him sleep for a little longer, as this may turn out to be a very long day.” Alex nodded as Henuttawy continued. “I for one did not know Nefertiti was a supporter of the warlock, though it does not come as much of a surprise.”

  “She is from a different time to him, so it surprises me. I cannot remember the dates when they lived, but I am pretty sure they were over one hundred years apart, so they could never have met.”

  “It is easy to make the mistake of confusing actual historical alliances with those made in the afterlife.” Alex went to speak, though upon seeing the look on Henuttawy’s face, he said nothing. There was obviously something she wanted to explain. “I am probably not going to say this in the easiest to understand way, but I do know Dr Margretti is desperate for you to go to England and work with him. What I tell you now may be helpful to you in this respect.”

  “Yes, he said so, but he will not tell me anything about it.” Henuttawy again gave him the look. “Sorry, I will keep quiet.”

  “In my mind, I have never died. I remain just as confused about life and death as you are. Yes, I am an ancient, yes, I lived in a physical form, just as you do now. Touch me,” she said as she held out an arm, “am I not as warm as you, just as solid as you, so do I not live in a physical form as you do?” Alex could not disagree. “Yet you correctly call me an ancient. To me, I am anything but as this is my life. I am living this day in just as much fear as you are. Who says I cannot be removed from this life? Yes, yes, I know, if my name lives on then I live on, but is this actually true in every case? I am dead, but I am also alive, so I fear death just as much as you.”

  Alex thought for a while, before a realisation came over his face.

  “I think it has just dawned on you,” said Henuttawy as she placed a hand on his knee. “I can tell you as a fact, there were well over two hundred pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Books today name well over one hundred and fifty of these. So, their names are remembered, yet how many have you met?” It was a question, though not one that required an answer. “Let me guess. You are thinking that many of these pharaohs may have lived outside of Luxor, and you would be correct, some did, quite a few in fact. The problem is that over sixty of them did live and die in Luxor. Each of these sixty plus pharaohs had a whole entourage of people as well as a decent sized army. They are all remembered, so why is Luxor not so crowded with ancients that we cannot walk on the streets? All I know about death is that I did not die. I went to sleep as an old lady in my seventy-second year and woke up looking like this some eight hundred years later.”

  “What!” exclaimed Alex.

  “That was roughly my reaction. What, indeed! To my knowledge, no ancient has ‘died’ one day and appeared in the afterlife the next. Hundreds of years pass before they reappear, if indeed they ever do. So, where have they been all that time? Even when they do reappear, some famous names that were around, such as Khufu, the pharaoh of the great pyramid at Giza, have not been seen for more years than I care to remember.” Henuttawy paused, looked directly into Alex’s eyes and said, “My afterlife is just as uncertain for me as your life is for you.”

  “Is there anything for breakfast?” asked a sleepy Cairo. He rubbed his eyes before dropping his hands to his sides. His eyes then opened unnaturally wide as he looked beyond Alex and Henuttawy. “Sol … sol … sol …” he stammered.

  Looking to where Cairo was looking there were indeed soldiers coming straight towards them. Checking the opposite direction, then moving to look up and down the rows, soldiers were coming towards them from every point of the compass. They had been walking quietly to mount a surprise attack, now they were running whilst making as much noise as humanly possible.

  “Any ideas?” shouted Henuttawy.

  “Surrender?” asked Cairo.

  “Height,” replied Alex. “We need to split up. The three of us together are too easily seen. We will be caught.” The soldiers were approaching quickly, though thankfully they were still at some distance. “We all need to run in different directions. When you see an opportunity, get on top of any mausoleum without being seen. Once up there, run across the roofs. With any luck, each of us will pass right over the heads of the soldiers without them knowing. Once out of the cemetery, walk, mix with the people, and we will meet … where, Henuttawy?”

  “Oh, yes, you need a name. We … we can meet at …”

  “Too late, RUN!” said Alex in panic. Soldiers who seemed to be so far away only a few seconds ago, suddenly appeared to be much closer. Far too close for comfort. Run they did. No straight lines, as they each turned at every corner through the maze of mausoleums.

  Alex and Cairo had turned so many times they eventually turned into each other. Alex had great presence of mind to boost Cairo onto the roof of the mausoleum they were beside before running on. Soldiers from both directions were chasing a single person, though a different single person. Now they were chasing the same person. Cairo’s lift onto the roof had gone unnoticed. He was already making his way out of the cemetery.

  After running in every direction he could, Alex had to admit he was surrounded. There was nothing for him to do, except delay his inevitable capture, so Henuttawy had a better chance of escaping. After all, she did have the grains of sand of the Sun, so her escape was of paramount importance. He really did not want to give in, so in one final attempt he ran, though he did not get far. Whichever way he turned, all he could see were approaching soldiers. He was indeed completely surrounded. It w
as then that he heard Henuttawy calling to him, repeating the same sentence over and over.

  “This way, Alex, follow my voice to safety. This way, Alex …”

  He thought his mind was playing tricks on him. Her wonderfully mellow voice was offering him safety, exactly what he needed right now, more than anything in the world. The soldiers had stopped running. They were approaching at a slow walking pace. Now, no more than fifty metres away, they had him where they wanted him.

  “Alex,” Henuttawy shouted, “if you get killed here I will never let you see Emmy again. Get yourself over here right now!”

  His mind had not been playing tricks on him. It was Henuttawy. He quickly moved towards her voice.

  “Stop right there. Be ready to get up and out of here the second panic sets in. This will not work unless the soldiers are close enough to see me step out through the solid wall. I know you will want to, but do not worry about me, because I will be right behind you.”

  Alex realised that the highly-decorated mausoleum he was standing beside must have been a collapsed mausoleum in her time. Despite a pounding heart and approaching soldiers, he felt they both had a better than average chance of getting out of here.

  “Get ready, as I am about to step out.” Henuttawy had discarded her necklace and pulled her white dress up so it covered all that needed to be covered. It would also be so much easier for her to run, now that it was not down to her ankles. She stepped out through the mausoleum wall whilst waving her arms and shrieking. Both she and Alex shared a microsecond of doubt. Was this going to work? The microsecond turned into a second, then two seconds. It actually took the best part of three seconds before the soldiers were in total panic.

  Alex seized the chance to get on top of the mausoleum. It was not as easy or as quick as he had expected it to be. Without the boost from Henuttawy, he thought he may still be hanging there, his fingers clasped on the edge with his feet unable to gain purchase. She appeared through the roof, as she had climbed the remains as they were in her time. They were off and running. Alex observed a decent sized market, slightly to their right, just beyond the north side of the cemetery. He saw a line of people, no more than dots, heading into it, as well as just as many walking away from it. The market was well in progress and heaving with people. Just the cover they would need once they were away from the cemetery, so that was the direction he headed, even though it was quite a way off.